Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Saxon Interests Inc.

Saxon Interests Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,967 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,882 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.3% of Saxon Interests Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Saxon Interests Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2,332.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,262,509,000 after purchasing an additional 6,468,645 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in Microsoft by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 272,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $131,750,000 after purchasing an additional 49,371 shares during the period. Finally, Overbrook Management Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 87,535 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,334,000 after purchasing an additional 2,384 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its strategic partnership with Mistral AI to strengthen Europe-focused AI infrastructure and bring Mistral models deeper into Microsoft’s cloud and AI platforms, reinforcing its long-term AI growth story. Reuters article on Microsoft funding Mistral’s European AI expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley turned constructive on Microsoft, saying sentiment on software stocks has become too negative and assigning MSFT an Overweight rating with a $600 price target. Investopedia article on Morgan Stanley software picks
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators say Microsoft could be undervalued heading into earnings, with several pieces arguing the stock may be a bargain if Azure growth and AI execution improve. TipRanks article on Microsoft as a bargain ahead of earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is scheduled to report fiscal Q4 results on July 29, and investors are focusing on Azure growth, AI spending, and Copilot adoption as the key questions for the call. Proactive Investors article on Microsoft earnings and Azure growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded AI deal with AMD also supports the bull case for Azure infrastructure, but it underscores that Microsoft is still spending heavily to secure future AI capacity rather than immediately harvesting profits. Proactive Investors article on Microsoft expanding AMD partnership
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued fresh class-action reminders tied to Microsoft’s alleged AI misstatements, keeping legal risk in the spotlight and adding pressure on sentiment. Pomerantz class-action alert for Microsoft investors
• Negative Sentiment: Headlines about a securities fraud lawsuit and allegations that Microsoft overstated Copilot functionality may weigh on the stock by reinforcing concerns around AI execution and disclosure. PR Newswire lawsuit notice on Microsoft Copilot functionality

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $502.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. New Street Research reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Scotiabank raised shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “market outperform” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $556.37.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $397.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $399.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $409.57. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).