Crake Asset Management LLP Boosts Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Crake Asset Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 57.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,011,570 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 370,097 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 30.6% of Crake Asset Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Crake Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $379,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter worth $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $509.90 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $510.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $453.82. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.38, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One equities 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

About Microsoft

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.