Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Spear Holdings RSC Ltd

Spear Holdings RSC Ltd boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 282,508 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,008 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 10.4% of Spear Holdings RSC Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Spear Holdings RSC Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $104,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Markel Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares during the period. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management grew its holdings in Microsoft by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the period. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 138.8% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $502,077,000 after purchasing an additional 788,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citi raised its Microsoft price target to $600. The upgrade follows Microsoft’s quarterly Azure performance, with analysts highlighting the 43% cloud-revenue increase and stronger-than-expected earnings as evidence that AI demand is translating into accelerating cloud growth. Citi Raises Microsoft Stock Target to $600
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s custom AI chips may improve cloud economics. CEO Satya Nadella said the company’s internally developed chips can deliver efficiency gains of up to 40%. Better cost and energy efficiency could help Microsoft support AI workloads while protecting Azure margins. Microsoft Custom AI Chips Improve Efficiency
• Positive Sentiment: Azure is expanding in India. Microsoft opened a major Hyderabad data-center region and is committing approximately $20.5 billion to its Indian cloud and AI operations. Early customers include Adani Group and HDFC Bank, supporting the case for long-term international Azure growth. Microsoft Opens Largest India Data Center Hub
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals and institutional support remain strong. Microsoft recently exceeded quarterly revenue and EPS expectations, while Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square holds a reported $2.4 billion MSFT position. Scotiabank also raised its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate and maintained an Outperform rating. Bill Ackman Microsoft Stake
• Neutral Sentiment: AI demand is powerful but concentrated. Reports suggest OpenAI may account for a substantial portion of Microsoft’s AI sales, creating both a major growth engine and customer-concentration risk. Microsoft’s large AI backlog also does not guarantee equivalent future profitability.
• Negative Sentiment: Spending, margins and valuation remain concerns. Rising data-center capital expenditures and lower cloud gross margins could pressure cash flow if AI infrastructure costs grow faster than revenue. After the sharp post-earnings rally, the stock is also more vulnerable to profit-taking or disappointing guidance.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sales and securities litigation add headline risk. CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares for roughly $4.9 million, and multiple law firms are publicizing a securities class action with an August 11 lead-plaintiff deadline. These developments do not establish wrongdoing but may weigh on near-term sentiment.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Dbs Bank dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Phillip Securities lowered Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $558.87.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $499.99 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $404.86 and its 200-day moving average is $406.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

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).