Stableford Capital II LLC grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 4.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,202 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,201 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.0% of Stableford Capital II LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Stableford Capital II LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. XY Planning Network Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 119.5% in the 2nd quarter. XY Planning Network Inc. now owns 7,126 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,658,000 after acquiring an additional 3,879 shares during the last quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 28.1% during the 2nd quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC now owns 5,318 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167 shares during the last quarter. Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the second quarter. Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. now owns 100,412 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $37,456,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.2% in the second quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 34,011 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,687,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 1,957,446 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $730,167,000 after purchasing an additional 22,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 12th. Argus reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group set a $700.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Griffin Securities lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, William Blair initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $609.54.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total value of $3,984,293.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 555,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,924,086.32. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 145,504 shares of company stock worth $73,016,924 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Key Stories Impacting Microsoft
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Azure and AI demand remain the key bullish catalysts. Recent coverage highlights Azure revenue growth of 48%, above Microsoft’s 44%–45% forecast, with demand reportedly exceeding available capacity. Strong cloud growth, expanding Copilot adoption, and a reported $677 billion contract backlog support the view that Microsoft can monetize its AI investments. Microsoft Delivers Strong Azure Growth as AI Demand Exceeds Supply
- Positive Sentiment: Analysts and long-term investors continue to favor Microsoft’s scale and financial quality. Commentary points to Microsoft’s high-margin Azure platform, OpenAI partnership, prudent infrastructure expansion, and durable competitive position. Bill Ackman and other investors continue to view MSFT as a long-term compounder, while Microsoft’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations with revenue up 18.8% year over year to $92.28 billion and EPS of $4.89. Microsoft’s Prudent Approach to the AI Infrastructure Buildout
- Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding enterprise AI relationships. Estée Lauder selected Microsoft’s cloud, data, and AI tools to unify data and support personalized customer experiences. The deal reinforces Azure’s enterprise relevance, although its financial contribution to Microsoft was not disclosed. Estée Lauder Partners With Microsoft on AI and Data Tools
- Negative Sentiment: AI financing and cash-flow concerns are weighing on mega-cap technology stocks. Microsoft’s roughly $25 billion bond offering and heavy data-center spending have prompted debate about leverage and returns on AI infrastructure. Recent coverage notes that free cash flow fell to about $18.6 billion as capital expenditures increased, making investors more sensitive to execution and funding risks. AI Bond Funding Might Change the Case for Investing in Microsoft
- Negative Sentiment: Market-wide technology weakness amplified the pressure. The Nasdaq declined as investors reassessed expensive AI-linked stocks, while Oracle’s $10 billion debt sale revived concerns that aggressive AI buildouts may require substantial borrowing. Microsoft’s strong balance sheet and low debt-to-equity ratio distinguish it from weaker peers, but the sector-wide risk-off move still affected MSFT. Oracle Declines as AI Debt Worries Return
Microsoft Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $507.12 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $513.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $438.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $551.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.10.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.72 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.31% and a net margin of 41.17%. The business had revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.79 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.46%.
Microsoft Profile
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.
The company’s principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.
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