First Bancorp Inc ME Buys New Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• First Bancorp Inc. ME bought 9,251 Microsoft shares during the second quarter, worth approximately $3.45 million. Microsoft now represents about 1.4% of the fund’s portfolio and is its 16th-largest holding.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of Microsoft, while insiders sold roughly $75.4 million of stock over the past 90 days through pre-arranged trading plans.
• Microsoft’s AI expansion remains central to the investment outlook, with analysts focused on Azure growth, AI monetization and the new Maia accelerator. However, investors remain concerned that heavy capital spending could pressure cash flow, while infrastructure constraints may limit near-term growth.

First Bancorp Inc ME bought a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,251 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $3,451,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.4% of First Bancorp Inc ME's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $85,604,000 after purchasing an additional 8,773 shares in the last quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,652,000. Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock worth $199,014,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,562,197,000 after buying an additional 537,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,616,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft received a bullish signal ahead of its Oct. 28 earnings report after Bernstein raised its price target to $662 and maintained an “Outperform” rating. Investors are watching Azure growth, commercial remaining performance obligations, and whether Microsoft’s more than $115 billion in recent capital spending is translating into AI revenue. Microsoft Given New Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein
• Positive Sentiment: The company unveiled its Maia 300 AI accelerator and plans multi-gigawatt deployments beginning next year. The chip could reduce Microsoft’s reliance on Nvidia and lower inference costs, supporting the long-term economics of its AI infrastructure strategy. Microsoft's New AI Chip Could Change the Economics of AI
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced security controls for enterprise AI agents and emphasized that frontier models can pose insider-threat-like risks. The initiative could strengthen demand for Microsoft’s security products as businesses adopt agentic AI. Microsoft Introduces Security Features for AI Agents
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Microsoft as a broad way to monetize AI through Azure, Copilot, software subscriptions, and security. Expectations call for Azure growth of roughly 45%, though capacity constraints could limit near-term upside. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft withdrew as anchor customer from Nscale’s planned U.K. AI data center, reportedly because of electricity-grid and power-supply delays. The decision highlights infrastructure constraints but may also reflect disciplined capital allocation; third-party operators could benefit if hyperscalers build less capacity themselves. Microsoft Pulls Out of U.K. Data Center Deal
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s aggressive AI capital expenditures could pressure free cash flow and margins if Azure monetization does not accelerate. One analyst also said Maia remains well behind Nvidia and Google’s custom chips, limiting its near-term competitive impact. Microsoft AI Bull Case and Valuation Risks

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business's 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 owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total value of $3,984,293.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 555,396 shares of the company's stock, valued at $302,924,086.32. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.8%

Microsoft stock opened at $533.52 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. The stock's fifty day moving average is $506.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $442.31.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Phillip Securities cut shares of Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. CLSA reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley cut Microsoft from an "overweight" rating to a "negative" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut Microsoft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $590.30.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ: MSFT is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company's principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.

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