Great Lakes Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors acquired 994,052 Microsoft shares worth approximately $370.8 million during the second quarter, making Microsoft its third-largest holding at 2.8% of the portfolio.
• Institutional ownership remains substantial at 71.13%, while Microsoft insiders sold $71.4 million of stock over the past 90 days.
• Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $90.01 billion and EPS of $4.74, exceeding analyst estimates; analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $578.73.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 994,052 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $370,802,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.8% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th 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. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 234.5% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,822,280 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,619,211,000 after purchasing an additional 12,493,786 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Microsoft by 30.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after buying an additional 9,814,598 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Microsoft by 64.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,982,083,000 after buying an additional 9,493,778 shares during the period. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 38,442.1% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,810,388 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,521,001,000 after buying an additional 6,792,718 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the business'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 in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% 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 have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. CLSA reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Forty-two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $578.73.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $501.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $434.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10.

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, 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 company 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 company earned $3.65 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Microsoft 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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