Wellington Grp LLC Buys 1,326 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Wellington Grp LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,039 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,326 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.4% of Wellington Grp LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Wellington Grp LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Montchanin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $5,822,000. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 33,072 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,242,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Compass Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the first quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 171,001 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,300,000 after buying an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Front Street Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the first quarter. Front Street Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,529 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,527,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essential Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 119.9% in the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 5,289 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,958,000 after buying an additional 2,884 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to highlight Microsoft’s Azure expansion, accelerating Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, and the company’s ability to sustain double-digit earnings growth. Microsoft’s latest quarter also exceeded expectations, with revenue of approximately $90 billion and earnings growth supported by Azure. Microsoft’s Cloud Gains Can Sustain Double-Digit Earnings Growth
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its Microsoft price target to $625, citing stronger Copilot demand and accelerating infrastructure investment. Other analysts remain bullish, with a six-month median target near $540, reinforcing investor confidence in Microsoft’s long-term AI positioning. JPMorgan Raises Microsoft Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is combining its consumer and enterprise Copilot applications into a unified platform, potentially improving distribution, user engagement, and monetization as it competes with ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Microsoft Unifies Copilot Applications
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft approved the first AI data-center deployment under its $9.7 billion agreement with IREN, supporting Azure capacity expansion. The deal improves supply visibility but also underscores Microsoft’s substantial capital requirements. IREN Delivers First AI Cloud Deployment
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s roughly $175 billion AI infrastructure spending plan could pressure free cash flow and cloud margins. A reported decline in cloud gross margin and higher data-center, chip, electricity, and labor costs raise questions about how much of the company’s large AI backlog will translate into profit. Microsoft’s AI Backlog and Profitability Concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft has closed at least 15 China offices and joint ventures add geopolitical and operational uncertainty, although Azure reportedly provides a profitable reason to retain a limited China presence. Microsoft Retreats in China

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $495.40 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.58, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $411.27 and its 200 day moving average is $408.50. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial lowered Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $510.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.27.

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).