22,516 Shares in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Acquired by Notis McConarty Edward

Key Points

• Notis McConarty Edward acquired 22,516 Microsoft shares worth approximately $8.4 million, making Microsoft its eighth-largest holding and representing 3.6% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported quarterly earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $90.01 billion, beating analyst estimates; revenue increased 17.7% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $579.84, although insider selling and elevated valuation remain potential risks.

Notis McConarty Edward bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 22,516 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $8,399,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.6% of Notis McConarty Edward's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $85,604,000 after buying an additional 8,773 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock worth $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 8.4% during the 1st 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 during the period. Taylor Securities Services Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 138.8% in the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $502,077,000 after acquiring an additional 788,297 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $541.15 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $502.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $436.28. The company has a market capitalization of $4.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a positive change 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 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 20.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $530.00 to $575.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $579.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. 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. 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: Maia 300 AI chip is the key catalyst. Microsoft unveiled its third-generation Maia 300 processor and plans to begin production deployments in 2027, eventually scaling the platform to multiple gigawatts and potentially as many as one million chips. The company says Maia 300 can deliver approximately 40% more AI-generated tokens per megawatt or dollar than leading GPU-based systems, which could lower Azure costs and improve margins. Microsoft reveals Maia 300 AI chip
• Positive Sentiment: Greater control over AI supply and economics. Microsoft intends to make Maia a primary architecture for AI inference while continuing to use chips from Nvidia, AMD and Intel. Investors viewed the strategy as a way to reduce dependence on expensive, supply-constrained Nvidia hardware and strengthen Azure’s competitive position. Microsoft to rely more on homegrown AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Underlying growth remains strong. Recent coverage points to Azure growth guidance of 44%–45%, rising Copilot adoption, a record backlog and more than $50 billion in quarterly capital spending to meet AI demand. These trends reinforce the bullish long-term case, although the October 28 earnings report will test whether growth remains above investor expectations.
• Neutral Sentiment: AI safety and infrastructure constraints remain in focus. CEO Satya Nadella and President Brad Smith called for stronger safeguards, emergency controls and clearer AI regulation. Separately, industry leaders highlighted electricity and cooling capacity as potential limits on AI expansion. These issues may increase compliance and infrastructure costs but could also benefit Microsoft’s enterprise-focused approach.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal risks increased. The U.S. suspended Microsoft from the PERM green-card program amid scrutiny of its H-1B hiring practices, potentially complicating access to technical talent. Norway also fined Microsoft subsidiary Xandr approximately €8.6 million for sharing Grindr user data. Microsoft PERM suspension
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and execution risks persist. Some analysts downgraded Microsoft amid concerns about elevated AI capital spending, high expectations and the need for Azure growth to remain above 40%. The departure of longtime science president Peter Lee is an additional, though relatively minor, leadership concern.

Microsoft Profile

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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