Van Den Berg Management I Inc. Has $10.18 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Van Den Berg Management I Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 58.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,496 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,177 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.3% of Van Den Berg Management I Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Van Den Berg Management I Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dempze Nancy E raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.5% during the first quarter. Dempze Nancy E now owns 18,954 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,016,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at about $17,547,000. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 15.5% in the first quarter. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC now owns 33,897 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,548,000 after purchasing an additional 4,560 shares during the period. Boreal Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 33.2% during the 1st quarter. Boreal Capital Management LLC now owns 10,489 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 2,614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sentinel Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $774,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. HSBC dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, China Renaissance lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $559.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about 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

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $503.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $407.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $407.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

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).