XXEC Inc. Buys 84,672 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

XXEC Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 484.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 102,148 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,672 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 7.4% of XXEC Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. XXEC Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $37,812,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP increased its position in Microsoft by 1.7% during the first quarter. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP now owns 9,299 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,442,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 94,039 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $34,810,000 after purchasing an additional 19,189 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Care LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $667,000. Family Investment Center Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 64.5% in the 1st quarter. Family Investment Center Inc. now owns 1,833 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $679,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the period. Finally, Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 43,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,936,000 after buying an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Microsoft from $570.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Arete Research increased their price target on Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.84.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $0.74 on Friday, reaching $385.10. The stock had a trading volume of 24,605,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 44,511,868. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $402.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $414.58. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Argus lowered its price target on Microsoft but kept a buy rating, still implying roughly 32% upside from current levels. Benzinga / The Fly report on Argus price target cut
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to point to Microsoft’s AI and Azure buildout as a long-term driver, with one piece arguing that AI data centers are effectively “pre-sold,” suggesting strong demand for Microsoft’s infrastructure spending. Article on AI spending returns
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s recent earnings showed the company beat expectations on both revenue and EPS, reinforcing that the core business remains healthy despite the stock’s weak price action.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Xbox/gaming unit is facing restructuring under Asha Sharma, including layoffs and tough decisions about studio strategy, which adds uncertainty but could improve efficiency over time. FT article on Xbox changes
• Neutral Sentiment: The Federal Reserve named Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to a jobs-and-productivity task force, keeping Microsoft in the policy conversation around AI and labor, but with no immediate financial impact. Yahoo Finance report on Fed task force
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued notices about a securities fraud class action tied to alleged AI/Copilot misrepresentations, increasing headline risk and investor caution. PR Newswire lawsuit notice
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Starbucks is building internal AI to replace some Microsoft software underscore a broader threat: customers may use AI to reduce reliance on Microsoft’s enterprise products, which could pressure future software revenue. MarketBeat Starbucks AI cost-cutting article
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI expansion is also drawing criticism over rising emissions and heavy capital spending, feeding worries that the company is paying more for growth while investors question the payback period. TechXplore emissions report

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).