General American Investors Co. Inc. Buys 86,400 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

General American Investors Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 216.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,400 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 86,400 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.1% of General American Investors Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. General American Investors Co. Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $46,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 589,634 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $218,264,000 after purchasing an additional 6,776 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co increased its position in Microsoft by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 779,476 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,539,000 after purchasing an additional 39,281 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 59.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,576,422 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,694,054,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,110 shares in the last quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 32,102 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 59,112 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $24,105,000 after buying an additional 11,105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. President Capital increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $570.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $555.40.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined 25 tech companies in urging U.S. policymakers not to impose broad restrictions on open-weight and open-source AI models, a stance that supports its broader AI ecosystem strategy and could help preserve flexibility for future product development. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also backed a coalition letter with Nvidia, Meta, and other firms arguing that open-weight AI is important for U.S. leadership, reinforcing investor confidence that the company remains a major AI platform player rather than being boxed into one model provider. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded Databricks partnership extends a key cloud/data-AI relationship through the 2030s, which should help Azure adoption and strengthen long-term enterprise demand for Microsoft’s cloud services. TipRanks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several previews ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report say the big investor focus will be FY2027 CapEx guidance and Azure growth, with analysts expecting strong results but worrying that AI infrastructure spending could weigh on free cash flow and margins. MarketBeat article
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued class-action alerts and deadline reminders tied to Microsoft securities-fraud claims, including allegations related to Copilot disclosures, which adds headline risk and may keep some investors cautious into earnings. GlobeNewswire article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness tied to AI spending fears also weighed on Microsoft, as investors sold mega-cap names after seeing massive capital outlays across the sector and questioning near-term returns on AI investment. Fox Business article

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $381.70 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $398.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $407.62. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

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).