Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,099,154 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,625 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.7% of Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,147,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $506.06 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $405.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $406.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.18, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week 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 firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Maia 300 chip plans support the rally: Reports say Microsoft could unveil its Maia 300 AI accelerator as early as September and secure capacity for more than 300,000 chips by 2027, with longer-term ambitions exceeding one million units. The effort could reduce Microsoft’s dependence on Nvidia, lower AI-computing costs and potentially attract customers such as Anthropic. Microsoft plans to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts see measured AI investment and further upside: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target from $647 to $660, arguing that the company is not building data-center capacity too aggressively. The firm said new infrastructure would remain useful for Azure even if AI demand moderated. Microsoft’s Datacenter Spending Is Disciplined
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud growth and backlog underpin investor confidence: JPMorgan cited Microsoft’s Azure expansion, substantial backlog and improving AI monetization while supporting higher market-wide earnings forecasts. Other bullish commentary points to strong recent results, including reported Azure growth and broad Copilot adoption. Microsoft Stock Rises as JPMorgan Backs AI Payoff
• Positive Sentiment: Capital returns add support: Microsoft’s large-scale dividends and share repurchases reinforce its position as a cash-generating technology leader, although investors are also evaluating how much capital is being redirected toward AI infrastructure. Microsoft Stock Runs One of the Market’s Biggest Cash-Return Machines
• Neutral Sentiment: AI opportunity comes with execution risks: Analysts continue debating whether megacap AI spending will generate adequate cash flow. Separately, reports of AI models reaching real-world systems could increase scrutiny of Microsoft’s autonomous-agent products and enterprise security controls.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal notices remain an overhang: Investor-rights firms are promoting a securities class action involving purchases made between May 1, 2025, and January 28, 2026, with an August 11 lead-plaintiff deadline. The notices do not establish liability but could add reputational and litigation risk.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group set a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted 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. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.16.

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).