45,559 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Bought by Biondo Investment Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Biondo Investment Advisors acquired 45,559 Microsoft shares worth approximately $16.99 million, making Microsoft its 15th-largest holding and about 2.1% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of the stock.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook, with 42 Buy, four Hold and two Sell ratings, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $589.71. Microsoft also exceeded quarterly expectations with $4.74 in earnings per share and $90.01 billion in revenue.
• Microsoft’s AI and cloud expansion remains central to the investment case, but rising infrastructure costs, regulatory scrutiny and questions about custom-chip savings could pressure margins and free cash flow. The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, while executives recently sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans.

Biondo Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 45,559 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $16,994,000. Microsoft accounts for about 2.1% of Biondo Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 30.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock worth $15,426,862,000 after buying an additional 9,814,598 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,852,884,000 after buying an additional 2,784,809 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 22,138,798 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,715,379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,599,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Microsoft by 64.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,982,083,000 after acquiring an additional 9,493,778 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on Microsoft from $512.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $589.71.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Microsoft to remain the only major hyperscaler with positive free cash flow over the next year despite heavy AI investment. This reinforces confidence that the company can fund data-center expansion without substantial external financing. Microsoft Free Cash Flow Expected to Remain Positive
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft signed a 20-year agreement with NiSource for approximately 1,100 megawatts of power for an Indiana data-center campus beginning in 2028. Securing electricity supports future Azure capacity as grid constraints become a bottleneck for AI expansion. Microsoft Signs Power Deal With NiSource
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s custom Maia AI chips and reports that a new model achieved comparable or better performance than OpenAI’s system using a fraction of the computing power could eventually reduce reliance on expensive third-party GPUs and improve AI economics. Microsoft Wants to Make AI Cheaper
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on Azure growth, Copilot adoption, AI monetization and capital expenditures ahead of earnings. Strong demand could support the shares, but the market wants evidence that revenue growth is translating into sustainable margins.
• Negative Sentiment: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Microsoft’s grip on business software and says Microsoft and Amazon Web Services may need to do more to address cloud-service barriers. Potential remedies could increase compliance costs or weaken customer-lock-in advantages. UK Regulator Targets Microsoft’s Business Software Grip
• Negative Sentiment: Questions remain over whether custom chips will deliver meaningful savings: AI infrastructure, power and data-center commitments are rising rapidly, while Microsoft is reportedly seeking substantial cost reductions in Azure. That creates concern about near-term free-cash-flow and margin pressure.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were 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 trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $529.05 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $505.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $440.59. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 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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