2,428 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Acquired by Caitlin John LLC

Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,428 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $906,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Allocation Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $778,000. Ruggaard & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $1,987,000. Equitable Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $146,430,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,275,000. Finally, Brasada Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,645,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore upgraded Microsoft from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $592.15.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

MSFT opened at $532.95 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10. The business's 50-day moving average price is $507.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $444.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. 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%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expectations are building for another earnings beat, with demand for Azure cloud infrastructure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot supporting revenue and earnings growth. The key catalyst will be Microsoft’s October 28 report, where investors will look for accelerating Azure growth and evidence that AI investments are translating into monetization. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft remains viewed favorably as a relatively cash-generative way to participate in the AI-cloud buildout. While Oracle’s cloud growth is faster, Microsoft’s stronger free cash flow, lower leverage and broad enterprise installed base may provide greater financial resilience as AI capital expenditures rise. Oracle Versus Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: A new Boeing fleet-intelligence platform, Dataliner, is being built on Microsoft Azure AI Foundry. The partnership could add a recurring enterprise workload for Azure and demonstrate Microsoft’s ability to embed AI in industry-specific applications. Boeing and Microsoft Dataliner
• Positive Sentiment: Tavant’s Microsoft Fabric accelerator is now available through Microsoft Marketplace, potentially making it easier for businesses to deploy Fabric-based analytics and AI solutions across Azure. Tavant Fabric Accelerator
• Neutral Sentiment: GitHub Copilot is reportedly a major customer of Anthropic, highlighting demand for Microsoft’s AI developer tools but also exposing reliance on outside model providers and potential supplier concentration risk. Anthropic Revenue Concentration
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s withdrawal as anchor tenant from a U.K. AI data-center project because of power-supply delays underscores a growing constraint: electricity and grid access may slow Azure’s AI capacity expansion and increase infrastructure costs. Microsoft Withdraws From UK AI Data Center Project
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that elevated prices for components could make Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, less competitive or pressure demand. The gaming business is also undergoing restructuring, adding uncertainty beyond Azure and productivity software. Project Helix Pricing Concerns

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the 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 approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total value of $3,984,293.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 555,396 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $302,924,086.32. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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