1,500 Shares in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Purchased by All Stars Investment Ltd

Key Points

• All Stars Investment Ltd purchased 1,500 Microsoft shares worth approximately $560,000 in the second quarter, while institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of MSFT.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 43 Buy ratings, an average “Moderate Buy” consensus, and an average price target of $571.18; Wells Fargo recently raised its target to $725.
• Microsoft’s strong earnings, Azure and AI growth, and a dividend increase to $0.98 per quarter support the outlook, though investors remain attentive to elevated AI spending, valuation risks, and recent insider selling.

All Stars Investment Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,500 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $560,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.3% of All Stars Investment Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the 2nd 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 buying an additional 8,773 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 8.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after acquiring an additional 537,634 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 138.8% in the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant's stock worth $502,077,000 after acquiring an additional 788,297 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $571.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. 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 primary catalyst. Investor data and analyst commentary point to accelerating Azure demand, while Microsoft’s recent earnings showed its fastest cloud growth in four years. The improving demand is helping ease concerns that the company’s substantial AI infrastructure spending will not generate adequate returns. Ca$htag: MSFT Azure Cloud Drives Soaring Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo added Microsoft to its Q4 Tactical Ideas list and raised its price target to $725, citing Azure’s growth potential and the prospect of improved AI monetization through Copilot. The action adds to a series of bullish analyst revisions; one report noted that 52 analysts covering Microsoft currently have no sell ratings. With Azure as a Catalyst, Microsoft Is Positioned for Sustained Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship provides potential additional value. Investors are increasingly focused on Microsoft’s stake and commercial partnership with OpenAI, particularly ahead of a possible OpenAI initial public offering that could provide a market reference for the investment. OpenAI’s Future IPO Keeps Me Buying Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced new real-time AI speech models for customer-service agents, multilingual assistants and voice interfaces. The products broaden Microsoft’s enterprise AI offering and could support additional cloud consumption and software revenue. Microsoft Targets Contact Center Market With Real-Time AI Voice Models
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting Microsoft’s October 7 Surface and Windows event. New hardware or Windows updates could support the ecosystem, although the event has not yet produced a material earnings catalyst. Microsoft Stock Notches Up Ahead of the Surface Show
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include heavy AI capital spending, valuation concerns and broader market concentration. Critics argue that rising data-center capacity could pressure compute pricing and returns, while strategists warn that a market correction could disproportionately affect megacap technology stocks. Microsoft’s dividend remains affordable, but AI infrastructure spending and lease commitments could limit future dividend growth. Morgan Stanley Strategist Sees Market Drawdown Potential

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $517.53 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $490.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $430.19. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 20.27%.

About Microsoft

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.

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