Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Wall Street Financial Group Inc.

Wall Street Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,220 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,511 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.2% of Wall Street Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Wall Street Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Markel Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management boosted its position in Microsoft by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the period. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its stake in Microsoft by 138.8% in the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $502,077,000 after buying an additional 788,297 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $507.29 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $433.67 and its 200-day moving average is $413.10. The company has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10. 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 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.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 business earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN expanded their strategic partnership, introducing enterprise AI offerings and an AI-enabled PC. The agreement supports Microsoft’s effort to expand Azure and Copilot-related AI adoption internationally. Microsoft and HUMAIN Expand Strategic Collaboration at LEAP 2026 with New Enterprise AI Offering and AI PC
• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs expects elevated AI capital spending to continue into 2027. Sustained demand for cloud computing, data-center capacity and AI infrastructure could benefit Microsoft’s Azure business, although it also implies significant ongoing investment. Here comes the AI capex shocker, Goldman Sachs says
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive, with Citizens analyst Patrick Walravens anticipating that Microsoft could retest its record high over the next 12 months. Erste Group also raised its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate, reinforcing the bullish view on earnings growth. Wall Street analyst sets Microsoft stock price target for next 12 months
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expected to announce its annual dividend increase in September. Its last six increases were between 9% and 11%, but the size of the upcoming raise remains uncertain; the news offers income support rather than an immediate earnings catalyst. Microsoft Has Raised Its Dividend Every Year for More Than a Decade
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft Outlook experienced an outage that disrupted email access, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work reported elevated errors and latency. Although likely temporary, the incidents raise concerns about service reliability across productivity and AI products. Microsoft Outlook and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work are experiencing user outages
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also focused on the power, water and electricity demands associated with Microsoft’s expanding data-center footprint. Infrastructure bottlenecks and rising AI-related capital requirements could pressure margins and increase execution risk. Microsoft Stock Slips as Its Magic Word for Data Centers Emerges
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft acknowledged that a Windows 11 update can cause broken mouse cursors and black desktop wallpapers. The issue is unlikely to materially affect financial results, but it adds to near-term product-reliability concerns. Microsoft Admits Windows 11 Update Breaks Mouse Cursors

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Argus dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,810 shares of company stock valued at $10,110,874. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company 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).