Worth Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Worth Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 31.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,532 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,781 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.9% of Worth Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Worth Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $50,664,631,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $487.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $421.37 and a 200 day moving average of $409.73. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.13, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was 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 directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, August 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Dbs Bank dropped their target price on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.27.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s data-center expansion is becoming central to the bullish case. Analysts argue that demand is already supported by booked orders, with the company’s commercial backlog reportedly reaching approximately $678 billion. The opportunity depends on how quickly Microsoft can add capacity and deliver Azure AI services. Microsoft Stock’s Upside Now Runs Through Its Data Center Build
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple market commentaries remain constructive on Microsoft’s enterprise AI platform, citing Azure, Office and the company’s broader software ecosystem as sources of a durable competitive moat. Recent earnings also showed strong momentum, with revenue growth of 17.7% and earnings exceeding expectations. Microsoft Stock in 2027: My Prediction Is That It Still Beats the Market
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox release schedule could help stabilize or revive gaming revenue after a recent sales slowdown, although the impact depends on the performance of the new titles. Can Xbox’s Upcoming Gaming Roster Lift MSFT’s Gaming Revenues?
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that employees shared compensation details and monthly AI usage costs in internal spreadsheets provide transparency but have limited direct earnings implications. They may nevertheless draw attention to Microsoft’s workforce costs and the scale of internal AI adoption. Microsoft employees reveal how much cash they’re burning on AI
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that heavy AI infrastructure spending is outpacing shareholder distributions and could weigh on free cash flow, margins and future dividend growth. Related commentary also highlights the broader debt burden associated with the AI buildout. Microsoft’s AI spending and dividend costs
• Negative Sentiment: Australia’s new rules requiring large digital platforms to compensate local news publishers create additional obligations for LinkedIn and could modestly increase regulatory and operating costs. Microsoft Gets New Australia News Rules

About Microsoft

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).