M&T Bank Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,027,311 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,561 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.1% of M&T Bank Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $980,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the first quarter worth $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 500.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $30,840,432,000 after acquiring an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,905,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. 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: Microsoft is reportedly deepening its AI strategy through talks with Anthropic over use of its Maia AI chips, which could expand demand for Microsoft’s custom silicon and strengthen its position in AI infrastructure. Anthropic in talks to use Microsoft’s AI chips, The Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s reported integration of ChatGPT into Microsoft PowerPoint highlights tighter product tie-ins that could boost adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot and broader enterprise AI usage. ChatGPT Lands in Microsoft PowerPoint
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and EY announced a $1 billion partnership to accelerate corporate AI adoption, reinforcing expectations that Microsoft can monetize AI across large enterprise customers. Microsoft and EY Team to Promote Corporate AI Adoption
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles and analyst notes framed MSFT as an undervalued momentum name with AI catalysts building, including RBC reiterating a buy rating, which may be supporting shares. Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Royal Bank Of Canada
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is undergoing an internal AI-era leadership reset, including the planned departure of longtime executive Yusuf Mehdi, which signals strategic change but also adds some organizational uncertainty. Microsoft veteran executive Yusuf Mehdi is leaving after the next fiscal year
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage focused on Microsoft’s GitHub outages and higher AI operating costs, raising questions about execution, infrastructure strain, and whether AI usage is becoming too expensive to scale smoothly. Microsoft’s GitHub was positioned to win the AI coding race. Outages got in the way
• Negative Sentiment: The Gates Foundation’s sale of its remaining Microsoft stake was a headline overhang, though it appears more like portfolio rebalancing than a direct read on Microsoft’s fundamentals. The Gates Foundation Sold All of Its Remaining Microsoft Stock. Should Investors Be Worried?

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Microsoft to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.88.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $418.57 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $399.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $436.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% 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 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 transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).