Impax Asset Management Group plc Purchases 33,535 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,591,543 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,535 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 4.8% of Impax Asset Management Group plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $769,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,080 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,359,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,213,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Bank OH lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 5,965 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,885,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Equita Financial Network Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Equita Financial Network Inc. now owns 2,894 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,400,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sava Infond d.o.o. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o. now owns 67,000 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,403,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $419.09 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $399.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $437.61. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.95, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $356.28 and a 52-week 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and EY announced a $1 billion partnership to help enterprises launch and scale AI projects, which could support future Azure usage and Copilot adoption. Microsoft and EY Team to Promote Corporate AI Adoption
• Positive Sentiment: Reports said Anthropic is in talks to rent servers powered by Microsoft’s Maia AI chips, a sign Microsoft’s in-house silicon strategy may be gaining traction with major AI customers. Anthropic in talks to use Microsoft’s AI chips, The Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI opportunity, with commentary that AI compute demand is becoming a major growth engine for the company. Microsoft, Oracle Stand To Benefit As AI Compute Becomes The New Oil
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s largest data center in India is still on track to open by mid-2026, reinforcing the company’s ongoing global cloud expansion. Microsoft (MSFT)’s Largest Data Center In India Is On Track To Open By Mid-2026
• Negative Sentiment: Some market coverage focused on concerns that Microsoft’s aggressive AI capex could be weighing on sentiment, with investors questioning whether spending is outrunning near-term returns. Microsoft Falls 12% As AI Spending Concerns Pressure S&P 500
• Negative Sentiment: The UK CMA also opened a probe into Microsoft’s software practices, adding a regulatory overhang to the stock. UK CMA Opens Probe Into Microsoft (MSFT) Software Practices

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. China Renaissance dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.88.

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).