Advisory Resource Group Grows Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Advisory Resource Group increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 86.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,667 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 4,014 shares during the quarter. Advisory Resource Group's holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target to $600 from $500 and maintained a Buy rating. The bank cited accelerating cloud growth, improving AI efficiency and better visibility into returns on investment. Its thesis includes approximately 43% Azure growth and more than 30 million paid Copilot seats, implying substantial upside. Microsoft's AI strategy accelerates cloud growth and efficiency: analysts
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its HUMAIN partnership in the Middle East and Africa. The companies plan to combine HUMAIN ONE with Microsoft 365 Copilot and IQ capabilities for as many as one million enterprise users, while also bringing Arabic-language AI models to Microsoft’s ecosystem. The deal supports Microsoft’s international AI distribution and enterprise monetization strategy. Microsoft extends HUMAIN tie up
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and financial media continue to view Microsoft as a leading hyperscaler, citing Azure demand, Copilot adoption, strong cash generation and a valuation that remains reasonable relative to its growth prospects. Technical coverage also places MSFT in or near a potential buy zone after its recent rally. Why Microsoft's stock could rally another 20%
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft customers can now deploy Laurel through the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another application to the company’s enterprise distribution ecosystem, though the immediate financial effect was not disclosed. Laurel Now Available in the Microsoft Marketplace
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft 365 and Outlook outages persisted into a second day. Although service appeared to be improving, prolonged disruptions could frustrate enterprise customers and raise questions about reliability. Microsoft 365 outage drags on
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on Microsoft’s approximately $116 billion in fiscal 2026 property and equipment spending. Continued AI infrastructure investment may support long-term growth but could pressure depreciation, margins and returns if demand fails to keep pace. Rising interest rates and Windows 11 update problems add further near-term risk.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.2%

MSFT stock opened at $501.02 on Wednesday. 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 twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company's 50 day moving average is $436.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $413.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Arete Research upped their price target on Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $562.49.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,810 shares of company stock worth $10,110,874. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

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).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source