Burnham & Co LLC Purchases New Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Burnham & Co. LLC acquired 14,386 Microsoft shares worth approximately $5.4 million, making Microsoft its seventh-largest holding at 4.3% of its portfolio. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported a strong quarter, with EPS of $4.74 beating estimates by $0.50 and revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.7% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, or $3.92 annually.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with 41 Buy ratings and a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating alongside a $581.24 target price. However, insiders sold roughly $75.4 million of stock over the past 90 days, largely through pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.

Burnham & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 14,386 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $5,366,000. Microsoft makes up 4.3% of Burnham & Co LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $101,000. Finally, Glynn Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 34.2% in the 2nd quarter. Glynn Capital Management LLC now owns 255 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 business's stock in a transaction on 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 trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of MSFT opened at $533.69 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $504.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $438.68. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Evercore raised Microsoft from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Argus reduced their target price on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $581.24.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

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 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report).

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.