Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s 3rd Largest Position

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,163,712 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 275,511 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.9% of Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,530,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. PMG Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,347,000 after buying an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $493,860,000 after buying an additional 9,700 shares in the last quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its position 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 valued at $6,041,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,262,509,000 after buying an additional 6,468,645 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of MSFT opened at $397.36 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $410.24 and its 200 day moving average is $429.80. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.45, for a total value of $1,031,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 51,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,434,201.60. The trade was a 4.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 19,262 shares of company stock valued at $8,695,581 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

More Microsoft News

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, May 4th. President Capital lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock. HSBC lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.20.

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).