175,494 Shares in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Bought by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 175,494 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $65,463,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.1% of Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 234.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,822,280 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,619,211,000 after buying an additional 12,493,786 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Microsoft by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after buying an additional 9,814,598 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Microsoft by 64.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,982,083,000 after buying an additional 9,493,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 38,442.1% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,810,388 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,521,001,000 after acquiring an additional 6,792,718 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 300 custom AI accelerator, designed for multi-gigawatt deployment across Azure data centers. Management says it can deliver 40% more tokens per megawatt than a GPU-based system, potentially lowering inference costs and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD hardware. What Could Microsoft Gain From Its Maia 300 AI Chip Rollout?
• Positive Sentiment: Investor optimism remains focused on Azure growth, Microsoft’s AI backlog, and more than $130 billion in reported data-center leases. The scale of commitments supports long-term demand for Azure and Copilot, although it also raises capital-spending risks. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects the upcoming fiscal first-quarter report to show improving differentiation in software. Earnings are scheduled for October 28. Microsoft Price Target Raised by Barclays
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure chief reportedly seeks at least 20% cost cuts in an effort to offset soaring AI data-center expenses. The move could improve efficiency and margins, but it also highlights pressure from the company’s aggressive investment cycle. Microsoft Weighs 20% Cost Cuts in Azure
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is introducing new AI-enabled Surface devices and an Xbox Nano Controller, supporting its broader push to put generative AI into consumer hardware. These products are strategically relevant but are unlikely to materially affect near-term results.
• Negative Sentiment: Hot inflation data pushed bond yields higher and triggered a broad selloff in AI-related shares, increasing concern that expensive AI infrastructure projects may face higher financing costs and tougher valuation scrutiny.
• Negative Sentiment: Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft to “hold,” while Erste Group made a minor reduction to its FY2028 earnings forecast. These actions add to near-term caution following the stock’s strong run.
• Negative Sentiment: EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares worth approximately $4.0 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Because the sale was scheduled in advance and represents only 1.3% of her holdings, it is a limited bearish signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft issued security updates addressing more than 1,400 vulnerabilities could renew concerns about cybersecurity exposure, though patching the flaws is ultimately protective.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $533.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $504.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $438.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total value of $3,984,293.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 555,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,924,086.32. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Microsoft from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $581.24.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.