Catalyst Investment Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Catalyst Investment Management acquired 2,061 Microsoft shares worth approximately $769,000, making Microsoft about 0.7% of its portfolio. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of the stock.
• Microsoft recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue, while analysts maintain a broadly bullish outlook with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $578.73 price target.
• Insiders have sold approximately $71.4 million worth of shares over the past three months, while Microsoft faces risks including uncertainty around its green-card sponsorship program and an antitrust investigation into its gaming businesses.

Catalyst Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,061 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $769,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.7% of Catalyst Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Palmer Knight Co acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,648,000. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $534,000. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $11,482,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $370,802,000. Finally, Balanced Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $692,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced Microsoft-Decision-1, an AI model it says makes decisions substantially faster than GPT-6 Sol. The launch reinforces Microsoft’s competitive position in enterprise AI and could support demand for Azure and Copilot services. Microsoft launches Microsoft-Decision-1
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and investor commentary remains bullish on Microsoft’s AI stack, Azure acceleration, Copilot adoption and a large reported backlog. Wells Fargo reportedly raised its price target to $725, while Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a Buy rating with a $600 target. Morgan Stanley rating
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is attempting to revive Windows and expand on-device AI with new Nvidia-powered Surface hardware, including the premium Surface Laptop Ultra. Local AI processing could strengthen the Windows ecosystem and stimulate higher-value PC sales. Surface Laptop Ultra
• Positive Sentiment: The company is nearing a $4 trillion market capitalization after a strong earnings beat, with revenue and earnings growth continuing to support the recent rally. The next major test is Microsoft’s expected October 28 earnings report. Microsoft approaches $4 trillion valuation
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s new Xbox division, focused on film, television, events and theme parks, could expand the reach of its gaming franchises, although the strategy is unlikely to materially affect near-term financial results. Microsoft forms new Xbox unit
• Negative Sentiment: The U.S. suspension of Microsoft’s PERM green-card sponsorship program creates hiring and retention uncertainty, particularly for specialized AI and engineering workers. Investors are weighing potential compliance costs and the risk of an “AI brain drain.” U.S. suspends Microsoft green-card program
• Negative Sentiment: Italy launched an EU-backed antitrust investigation into Microsoft-owned game companies over virtual currencies, adding regulatory risk to the gaming business. Italy gaming investigation

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were 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 $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $578.73.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $535.07 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm's 50-day moving average is $501.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $434.73.

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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. 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 yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

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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