First Pacific Financial Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• First Pacific Financial increased its Microsoft stake by 36.4% in the second quarter, owning 28,183 shares valued at approximately $10.5 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with 42 Buy ratings and five Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $564.27.
• Microsoft exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue, up 17.7% year over year. However, insiders sold about $50.7 million of stock over the past three months, including CEO Satya Nadella’s $43.4 million sale.

First Pacific Financial boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 36.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 28,183 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 7,527 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.3% of First Pacific Financial's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. First Pacific Financial's holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Hamilton Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hamilton Capital Partners LLC now owns 57,868 shares of the software giant's stock worth $21,586,000 after purchasing an additional 6,339 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 180,462 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $67,316,000 after buying an additional 5,662 shares during the last quarter. Brindle & Bay Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $756,000. FLC Capital Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the second quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 21,751 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,114,000 after buying an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the second quarter. Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp now owns 10,013 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,735,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $564.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft published a 37-page draft code of conduct for its in-house AI models, emphasizing that advanced AI should remain under meaningful human control and should not deceive people, resist shutdown, or hack systems. Investors appeared to interpret the framework as a way to address regulatory and reputational risks while supporting enterprise adoption. Microsoft drafts code of conduct to keep its AI under human control
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman called for greater coordination among leading AI companies, including third-party disclosure of model capabilities. The move may help Microsoft position itself as a responsible AI leader as safety concerns and potential regulation intensify. Microsoft AI chief: Now’s the time for top labs to coordinate on safety
• Positive Sentiment: Investor commentary remains supportive of Microsoft’s fundamentals, citing Azure growth, more than $100 billion in annual Azure revenue, strong Copilot adoption, and a large cloud backlog. Bank of America reportedly raised its price target to $600, while other analysts maintain Buy or Outperform ratings.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is one of the few major hyperscalers still maintaining share repurchases while expanding AI infrastructure, potentially supporting per-share earnings if cash generation remains strong. The End of Big Tech Buybacks
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft plans a substantial expansion of global data-center capacity to meet AI and cloud demand. The investment reinforces long-term growth prospects, but returns will depend on converting heavy spending on power, land, and computing equipment into durable revenue and margins. Microsoft to triple data centre capacity
• Negative Sentiment: Chipmaker weakness, rising Treasury yields, and concerns that AI development may need to slow pressured the wider technology sector. These factors could weigh on Microsoft’s valuation despite its relative strength and defensive enterprise-software exposure. S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow Drop on Chipmaker Weakness

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $505.41 on Tuesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.14, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company's 50-day moving average is $458.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $420.22. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72.

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 business 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 was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

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