2,333 Shares in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Purchased by Puff Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• Puff Wealth Management acquired 2,333 Microsoft shares worth approximately $870,000 during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft, with Vanguard, State Street and Geode among the largest holders.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive view, with 42 Buy ratings and five Holds; Microsoft has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $560.27 target price. The company also exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue.
• Microsoft insiders sold 37,310 shares worth $17.26 million in the latest quarter, while the company declared a $0.91 quarterly dividend. Investors remain focused on whether surging AI capital spending will generate sufficient returns, as free cash flow has declined.

Puff Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position 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 (SEC). The fund acquired 2,333 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $870,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after buying an additional 6,388,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant's stock worth $58,624,690,000 after acquiring an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $50,664,631,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Microsoft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents 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 the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $483.24 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 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The company has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.10. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $419.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $409.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing to launch its Maia 300 AI accelerator as soon as this fall and is discussing production with TSMC. Developing proprietary chips could reduce long-term reliance on Nvidia, improve supply-chain control, and support Microsoft’s expanding AI infrastructure. Microsoft’s Betting Big on Its Own AI Chips
• Positive Sentiment: Meta has reportedly become one of Microsoft’s largest Azure AI customers, spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually and consuming substantial computing capacity. The relationship reinforces evidence that enterprise demand is translating into Azure revenue. Meta Emerges as a Major Microsoft Azure AI Client
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, while Azure revenue reportedly surpassed $100 billion. Analysts and financial commentators also highlighted a roughly $678 billion backlog and continued strong demand for cloud and AI services. Microsoft Raises Dividend as AI Capital Spending Hits Record Levels
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft approved the Horizon 1 Texas data-center project involving IREN, potentially expanding capacity available for AI workloads. The development is strategically relevant, although the near-term financial benefit to Microsoft remains unclear. Microsoft Accepts Horizon 1
• Negative Sentiment: Annual capital spending has climbed nearly 80% to about $115.9 billion, while free cash flow declined. Investors remain focused on whether AI revenue growth will generate adequate returns on this spending. Microsoft Spent $115.9 Billion on AI
• Negative Sentiment: TCI Management reportedly exited its Microsoft position and increased its Alphabet stake, adding a notable institutional-selling signal. Separately, commentary warned that Microsoft’s valuation depends on optimistic earnings forecasts, while higher bond yields could reduce the present value of future AI profits. TCI Exits Microsoft

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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