MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH Purchases 115,473 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 115,473 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $43,074,000. Microsoft accounts for 3.7% of MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,455,000. AtlasMark Financial Inc acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $2,149,000. Triton Financial Group Inc acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $3,722,000. One68 Global Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $1,119,000. Finally, Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $135,400,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expectations are building for another earnings beat, with demand for Azure cloud infrastructure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot supporting revenue and earnings growth. The key catalyst will be Microsoft’s October 28 report, where investors will look for accelerating Azure growth and evidence that AI investments are translating into monetization. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft remains viewed favorably as a relatively cash-generative way to participate in the AI-cloud buildout. While Oracle’s cloud growth is faster, Microsoft’s stronger free cash flow, lower leverage and broad enterprise installed base may provide greater financial resilience as AI capital expenditures rise. Oracle Versus Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: A new Boeing fleet-intelligence platform, Dataliner, is being built on Microsoft Azure AI Foundry. The partnership could add a recurring enterprise workload for Azure and demonstrate Microsoft’s ability to embed AI in industry-specific applications. Boeing and Microsoft Dataliner
• Positive Sentiment: Tavant’s Microsoft Fabric accelerator is now available through Microsoft Marketplace, potentially making it easier for businesses to deploy Fabric-based analytics and AI solutions across Azure. Tavant Fabric Accelerator
• Neutral Sentiment: GitHub Copilot is reportedly a major customer of Anthropic, highlighting demand for Microsoft’s AI developer tools but also exposing reliance on outside model providers and potential supplier concentration risk. Anthropic Revenue Concentration
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s withdrawal as anchor tenant from a U.K. AI data-center project because of power-supply delays underscores a growing constraint: electricity and grid access may slow Azure’s AI capacity expansion and increase infrastructure costs. Microsoft Withdraws From UK AI Data Center Project
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that elevated prices for components could make Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, less competitive or pressure demand. The gaming business is also undergoing restructuring, adding uncertainty beyond Azure and productivity software. Project Helix Pricing Concerns

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wolfe Research lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Barclays increased their target price on Microsoft from $512.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Yorkville Ives assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $615.00 target price for the company. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $440.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $592.15.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $532.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $507.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $444.58. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company’s principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.