Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Boosts Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 322,237 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,601 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 5.8% of Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $155,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are showing bullish sentiment toward Microsoft, with unusually heavy buying in long-dated call options suggesting some traders expect upside from here. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, reinforcing its cash-generation and shareholder-return profile. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: MN8 Energy said two solar projects totaling 260 MW are now online under long-term power purchase agreements with Microsoft, supporting its AI/data-center infrastructure needs. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding AI and cloud partnerships, including new agentic AI collaborations and Copilot-related deployments, which supports the long-term growth narrative but also underscores ongoing AI spending pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly cutting hundreds of jobs in its Azure unit in China, highlighting regulatory friction and weaker operating conditions in a key market. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Xbox is planning major layoffs and budget cuts next month are adding to concerns about slower growth and restructuring costs in Microsoft’s gaming division. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also limiting employee use of Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 over data-retention concerns, a reminder of the risks and competitive tensions around AI tools and partners. Article Title

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $502.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Microsoft to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They issued a “market outperform” rating on the stock. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $561.20.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $397.36 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $410.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $429.80. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.45, for a total transaction of $1,031,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 51,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,434,201.60. This represents a 4.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,262 shares of company stock worth $8,695,581. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

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).