Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Holdings Lifted by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 63.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,071,039 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 803,530 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.2% of Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $766,637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 88.0% during the first quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 230,977 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $85,501,000 after purchasing an additional 108,102 shares during the period. Platform Technology Partners lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 42,594 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,767,000 after buying an additional 3,922 shares during the period. DSG Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. DSG Capital Advisors LLC now owns 81,571 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $30,195,000 after buying an additional 1,591 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 34,747 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,835,000 after buying an additional 2,923 shares during the period. Finally, Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the first quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 64,478 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,868,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. HSBC cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price target (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.84.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5%

Microsoft stock opened at $384.93 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $401.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $412.68. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13.

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 the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 21.67%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators continue to view Microsoft as a high-quality AI and cloud name, with some arguing the stock looks cheaper after the recent decline.
• Positive Sentiment: Upcoming earnings later this month could provide a catalyst if Azure growth and AI-related demand remain strong.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft remains a major beneficiary of AI infrastructure spending, but investors are waiting for clearer proof that those investments will translate into faster profit growth.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s 4,800-job reduction and Xbox restructuring suggest ongoing cost pressure and restructuring challenges.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities class-action alerts tied to alleged AI/Copilot disclosure issues are adding legal and reputational risk.
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns about Microsoft’s OpenAI partnership and AI product execution are creating uncertainty around the company’s AI narrative.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. 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).