Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 72.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 156,496 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,775 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.8% of Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $75,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Trending Headlines about Microsoft
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft pledged a major strategic buildout in Japan — a $10 billion, multi‑year plan to fund AI data centers, cybersecurity and workforce training with partners including SoftBank and Sakura Internet, underpinning long‑term cloud/A.I. revenue opportunities and local partnerships. Microsoft to invest $10 billion in Japan for AI and cyber defence expansion
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft rolled out multiple proprietary AI models and signaled it will build frontier models in‑house — a strategic shift to reduce dependence on partners and capture more of the AI stack (product control, margins and IP). This supports the long‑term AI revenue thesis. Microsoft building its own high-powered AI models as it looks to slash dependence on OpenAI
- Positive Sentiment: Management says Copilot sales targets were met after changing the go‑to‑market approach (moving to paid/subscription rather than broad bundling), a sign of product monetization gaining traction. That helps offset concerns about adoption. Microsoft hits Copilot sales goals after strategy shift – Bloomberg
- Positive Sentiment: Benchmark initiated coverage / and some street notes raised targets (coverage and a $675 price target were reported), providing analyst support that could lift sentiment if follow‑through occurs. Microsoft Charts $10 Billion of Outlays in AI-Eager Japan
- Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced local partnerships and community programs (e.g., Victoria University datacenter academy) that support talent pipeline and social license for datacenter expansion — constructive but longer‑dated impact. Microsoft Corp (MSFT) Partners with Victoria University on Datacenter Community Pledge
- Neutral Sentiment: Smaller ecosystem developments (Sakura Internet confirming talks, local partners’ stock moves) amplify the Japan story but are execution‑dependent; useful context for investors tracking regional rollout. SAKURA Internet Confirms Exploratory AI Cloud Collaboration Talks With Microsoft Japan
- Negative Sentiment: Recent quarterly performance and commentary have disappointed some investors — headlines describe a Q1 “slide” and the worst quarterly drop since 2008 for MSFT, feeding the narrative of short‑term weakness and valuation re‑rating. That continues to pressure the stock. After Microsoft’s Q1 Slide, Are the Bulls Still On Board?
- Negative Sentiment: Several large funds / billionaires have trimmed MSFT positions in recent 13F disclosures (D.E. Shaw, Steve Cohen, Dan Loeb), signaling some institutional profit‑taking amid concerns over cloud supply constraints and guidance — a headwind for near‑term flows. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Billionaire Steve Cohen Trims Position
- Negative Sentiment: Security/product risks surfaced (reports on “AI recommendation poisoning”) and ongoing execution demands for in‑house frontier models add operational risk and could temper upside if issues emerge. AI Recommendation Poisoning: Why Microsoft NASDAQ: MSFT Is Fighting So Hard
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $588.97.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft
Microsoft Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $373.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The company has a market cap of $2.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.36, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $400.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $462.61.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 22.76%.
Microsoft Company Profile
(Free Report)
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).
See Also
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