Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA

Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 341,058 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,686 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.8% of Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $126,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.9% during the third quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Better Money Decisions LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% during the second quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,498 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. UBS Group set a $525.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, May 4th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.16.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

MSFT stock opened at $503.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $407.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $407.37. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings showed stronger-than-expected profitability and revenue, with Azure growth and Copilot adoption reinforcing the view that substantial AI investment is beginning to generate returns. Hedge funds and institutional investors continue to favor Microsoft over some other mega-cap technology names. Hedge Funds Favor Microsoft Over Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target to $660 and maintained an Outperform rating, arguing that Microsoft’s data-center expansion is measured, flexible, and supported by durable cloud demand. Other analysts also identified Azure growth, backlog, and institutional buying as potential catalysts for a year-end rally. Bernstein Raises Microsoft Target
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may unveil its Maia 300 AI chip as early as September and secure production capacity for more than 300,000 units could reduce reliance on Nvidia processors, lower long-term AI costs, and support Microsoft’s cloud strategy. Microsoft Maia 300 Chip Report

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 38,572 shares of company stock worth $17,775,330 in the last three months. 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).