34,013 Shares in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Acquired by Rakuten Securities Inc.

Key Points

• Rakuten Securities acquired 34,013 Microsoft shares worth approximately $12.7 million in the second quarter, making Microsoft its fifth-largest holding at 2.9% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft insiders sold 150,314 shares worth about $75.4 million over the past three months, including substantial sales by CEO Satya Nadella and EVP Amy Hood under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $581.24. Microsoft also reported quarterly revenue growth of 17.7%, beat earnings estimates, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share.

Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 34,013 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $12,688,000. Microsoft accounts for 2.9% of Rakuten Securities Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $60,000. Finally, Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $101,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was 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. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "overweight" rating to a "negative" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $581.24.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $533.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $504.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $438.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.72, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. The business's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal 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 a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 300 custom AI accelerator, designed for multi-gigawatt deployment across Azure data centers. Management says it can deliver 40% more tokens per megawatt than a GPU-based system, potentially lowering inference costs and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD hardware. What Could Microsoft Gain From Its Maia 300 AI Chip Rollout?
• Positive Sentiment: Investor optimism remains focused on Azure growth, Microsoft’s AI backlog, and more than $130 billion in reported data-center leases. The scale of commitments supports long-term demand for Azure and Copilot, although it also raises capital-spending risks. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects the upcoming fiscal first-quarter report to show improving differentiation in software. Earnings are scheduled for October 28. Microsoft Price Target Raised by Barclays
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure chief reportedly seeks at least 20% cost cuts in an effort to offset soaring AI data-center expenses. The move could improve efficiency and margins, but it also highlights pressure from the company’s aggressive investment cycle. Microsoft Weighs 20% Cost Cuts in Azure
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is introducing new AI-enabled Surface devices and an Xbox Nano Controller, supporting its broader push to put generative AI into consumer hardware. These products are strategically relevant but are unlikely to materially affect near-term results.
• Negative Sentiment: Hot inflation data pushed bond yields higher and triggered a broad selloff in AI-related shares, increasing concern that expensive AI infrastructure projects may face higher financing costs and tougher valuation scrutiny.
• Negative Sentiment: Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft to “hold,” while Erste Group made a minor reduction to its FY2028 earnings forecast. These actions add to near-term caution following the stock’s strong run.
• Negative Sentiment: EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares worth approximately $4.0 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Because the sale was scheduled in advance and represents only 1.3% of her holdings, it is a limited bearish signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft issued security updates addressing more than 1,400 vulnerabilities could renew concerns about cybersecurity exposure, though patching the flaws is ultimately protective.

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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