Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Lowered by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,920,970 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 27,300 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.3% of Swiss National Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.27% of Microsoft worth $7,478,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.6%

Microsoft stock opened at $495.00 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $509.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $450.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.