Alexander Randolph Advisory Inc. Buys 1,341 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Alexander Randolph Advisory increased its Microsoft stake by 19.7% in the second quarter, buying 1,341 shares for a total of 8,143 shares valued at approximately $3.04 million.
• Institutional investors own 71.13% of Microsoft, while insiders have sold about $71.4 million in shares over the past 90 days, including sales by executives Amy Hood and Judson Althoff.
• Microsoft reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with revenue up 17.7% year over year and EPS of $4.74, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share. Analysts maintain a generally bullish view, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $571.18.

Alexander Randolph Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 19.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,143 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.5% of Alexander Randolph Advisory Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Alexander Randolph Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after purchasing an additional 9,814,598 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,235,785,000 after acquiring an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Microsoft by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,852,884,000 after acquiring an additional 2,784,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 22,138,798 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,715,379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,599,412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available 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 the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.9%

MSFT stock opened at $517.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.10. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $490.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $429.97. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 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 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure and AI demand remain the primary catalyst. Investor data and analyst commentary point to accelerating Azure demand, while Microsoft’s recent earnings showed its fastest cloud growth in four years. The improving demand is helping ease concerns that the company’s substantial AI infrastructure spending will not generate adequate returns. Ca$htag: MSFT Azure Cloud Drives Soaring Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo added Microsoft to its Q4 Tactical Ideas list and raised its price target to $725, citing Azure’s growth potential and the prospect of improved AI monetization through Copilot. The action adds to a series of bullish analyst revisions; one report noted that 52 analysts covering Microsoft currently have no sell ratings. With Azure as a Catalyst, Microsoft Is Positioned for Sustained Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship provides potential additional value. Investors are increasingly focused on Microsoft’s stake and commercial partnership with OpenAI, particularly ahead of a possible OpenAI initial public offering that could provide a market reference for the investment. OpenAI’s Future IPO Keeps Me Buying Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced new real-time AI speech models for customer-service agents, multilingual assistants and voice interfaces. The products broaden Microsoft’s enterprise AI offering and could support additional cloud consumption and software revenue. Microsoft Targets Contact Center Market With Real-Time AI Voice Models
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting Microsoft’s October 7 Surface and Windows event. New hardware or Windows updates could support the ecosystem, although the event has not yet produced a material earnings catalyst. Microsoft Stock Notches Up Ahead of the Surface Show
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include heavy AI capital spending, valuation concerns and broader market concentration. Critics argue that rising data-center capacity could pressure compute pricing and returns, while strategists warn that a market correction could disproportionately affect megacap technology stocks. Microsoft’s dividend remains affordable, but AI infrastructure spending and lease commitments could limit future dividend growth. Morgan Stanley Strategist Sees Market Drawdown Potential

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Argus reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 20th. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $571.18.

Microsoft Company 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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