136,421 Shares in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Bought by Kinetic Partners Management LP

Key Points

• Kinetic Partners Management LP purchased 136,421 Microsoft shares worth approximately $50.9 million, making Microsoft about 1.2% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of the company.
• Microsoft reported quarterly EPS of $4.74, beating the $4.24 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 17.7% year over year to $90.01 billion. The company also increased its quarterly dividend from $0.91 to $0.98 per share.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $590.30 price target, although concerns persist over heavy AI capital spending, infrastructure constraints and the pace of Azure monetization.

Kinetic Partners Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 136,421 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $50,888,000. Microsoft comprises about 1.2% of Kinetic Partners Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in Microsoft by 4.0% in the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $85,604,000 after purchasing an additional 8,773 shares during the last quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at about $3,652,000. Markel Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $2,616,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $533.52 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $506.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $442.31. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. 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 company has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 20.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. 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: Microsoft received a bullish signal ahead of its Oct. 28 earnings report after Bernstein raised its price target to $662 and maintained an “Outperform” rating. Investors are watching Azure growth, commercial remaining performance obligations, and whether Microsoft’s more than $115 billion in recent capital spending is translating into AI revenue. Microsoft Given New Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein
• Positive Sentiment: The company unveiled its Maia 300 AI accelerator and plans multi-gigawatt deployments beginning next year. The chip could reduce Microsoft’s reliance on Nvidia and lower inference costs, supporting the long-term economics of its AI infrastructure strategy. Microsoft's New AI Chip Could Change the Economics of AI
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced security controls for enterprise AI agents and emphasized that frontier models can pose insider-threat-like risks. The initiative could strengthen demand for Microsoft’s security products as businesses adopt agentic AI. Microsoft Introduces Security Features for AI Agents
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Microsoft as a broad way to monetize AI through Azure, Copilot, software subscriptions, and security. Expectations call for Azure growth of roughly 45%, though capacity constraints could limit near-term upside. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft withdrew as anchor customer from Nscale’s planned U.K. AI data center, reportedly because of electricity-grid and power-supply delays. The decision highlights infrastructure constraints but may also reflect disciplined capital allocation; third-party operators could benefit if hyperscalers build less capacity themselves. Microsoft Pulls Out of U.K. Data Center Deal
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s aggressive AI capital expenditures could pressure free cash flow and margins if Azure monetization does not accelerate. One analyst also said Maia remains well behind Nvidia and Google’s custom chips, limiting its near-term competitive impact. Microsoft AI Bull Case and Valuation Risks

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Raymond James Financial downgraded Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Microsoft from an "overweight" rating to a "negative" rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $590.30.

Microsoft Company 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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