Van Den Berg Management I Inc. Has $10.18 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Van Den Berg Management I Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 58.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,496 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,177 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.3% of Van Den Berg Management I Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Van Den Berg Management I Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 8.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares during the period. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 138.8% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $502,077,000 after buying an additional 788,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group set a $525.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective (up from $570.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.16.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $503.81 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $407.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $407.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings showed stronger-than-expected profitability and revenue, with Azure growth and Copilot adoption reinforcing the view that substantial AI investment is beginning to generate returns. Hedge funds and institutional investors continue to favor Microsoft over some other mega-cap technology names. Hedge Funds Favor Microsoft Over Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target to $660 and maintained an Outperform rating, arguing that Microsoft’s data-center expansion is measured, flexible, and supported by durable cloud demand. Other analysts also identified Azure growth, backlog, and institutional buying as potential catalysts for a year-end rally. Bernstein Raises Microsoft Target
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may unveil its Maia 300 AI chip as early as September and secure production capacity for more than 300,000 units could reduce reliance on Nvidia processors, lower long-term AI costs, and support Microsoft’s cloud strategy. Microsoft Maia 300 Chip Report

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock worth $17,775,330 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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).