W1M Asset Management Ltd Makes New $480.25 Million Investment in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Posted by Geri Gentry on Oct 16th, 2026

W1M Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,288,098 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $480,248,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.4% of W1M Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 37.4% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were 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 directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target to $675 from $525 and reiterated a Buy rating, citing accelerating Azure and Microsoft 365 growth driven by artificial intelligence. The firm believes Microsoft’s valuation remains reasonable despite its recent rally. UBS raises Microsoft price target
Positive Sentiment: Multiple Wall Street firms have lifted their targets, with analysts highlighting Azure momentum, approximately 30 million Copilot seats, Microsoft’s commercial backlog and the potential for a larger-than-usual earnings beat. The October 28 results will provide an important test of whether AI spending is translating into revenue and profit.
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Maia 300 custom AI accelerator is expected to scale across Azure data centers and reportedly deliver more tokens per megawatt than conventional GPU systems. The chip could reduce inference costs and Microsoft’s dependence on Nvidia and AMD hardware. Microsoft Maia 300 AI chip
Positive Sentiment: AI care-management company Tucuvi joined Microsoft’s Pegasus startup program, potentially expanding Microsoft’s enterprise AI pipeline and go-to-market reach in healthcare. Microsoft also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.98 from $0.91, signaling continued confidence in cash generation. Tucuvi joins Microsoft Pegasus Program
Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Azure management is seeking roughly 20% cost reductions could improve efficiency and margins, but also underscore the pressure created by Microsoft’s substantial AI data-center investments.
Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s $10 million contribution to a White House ballroom project is unlikely to affect near-term financial results, though it could attract political or reputational scrutiny. Microsoft White House ballroom contribution
Negative Sentiment: Higher inflation and bond yields have pressured AI valuations and raised concerns about the financing cost and returns of large infrastructure projects. Microsoft’s strong balance sheet makes it less vulnerable than smaller AI companies, but valuation sensitivity remains a risk.
Negative Sentiment: Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft to Hold, while reports of security vulnerabilities, executive share sales and intense competition from rapidly growing AI companies add caution. Amy Hood’s sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its significance.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $539.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.04, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $504.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $439.96. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Microsoft from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $589.71.

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Microsoft Company Profile

(Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.