Harvey Capital Management Inc. Makes New $17.12 Million Investment in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Harvey Capital Management initiated a $17.12 million Microsoft position by purchasing 45,894 shares, making MSFT its fifth-largest holding at roughly 3.5% of the portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with 43 Buy ratings, an overall “Moderate Buy” consensus, and an average price target of $592.15. Microsoft also recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, supported by growth in Azure, Microsoft 365 and AI services.
• Key risks include limits on electricity and grid access that could slow AI data-center expansion, reliance on external AI model providers, and uncertainty surrounding the gaming business. Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, or $3.92 annually.

Harvey Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 45,894 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $17,119,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.5% of Harvey Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. N10 Assets LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $6,608,000. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,240,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,868,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,086,787,000. Finally, MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,074,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expectations are building for another earnings beat, with demand for Azure cloud infrastructure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot supporting revenue and earnings growth. The key catalyst will be Microsoft’s October 28 report, where investors will look for accelerating Azure growth and evidence that AI investments are translating into monetization. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft remains viewed favorably as a relatively cash-generative way to participate in the AI-cloud buildout. While Oracle’s cloud growth is faster, Microsoft’s stronger free cash flow, lower leverage and broad enterprise installed base may provide greater financial resilience as AI capital expenditures rise. Oracle Versus Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: A new Boeing fleet-intelligence platform, Dataliner, is being built on Microsoft Azure AI Foundry. The partnership could add a recurring enterprise workload for Azure and demonstrate Microsoft’s ability to embed AI in industry-specific applications. Boeing and Microsoft Dataliner
• Positive Sentiment: Tavant’s Microsoft Fabric accelerator is now available through Microsoft Marketplace, potentially making it easier for businesses to deploy Fabric-based analytics and AI solutions across Azure. Tavant Fabric Accelerator
• Neutral Sentiment: GitHub Copilot is reportedly a major customer of Anthropic, highlighting demand for Microsoft’s AI developer tools but also exposing reliance on outside model providers and potential supplier concentration risk. Anthropic Revenue Concentration
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s withdrawal as anchor tenant from a U.K. AI data-center project because of power-supply delays underscores a growing constraint: electricity and grid access may slow Azure’s AI capacity expansion and increase infrastructure costs. Microsoft Withdraws From UK AI Data Center Project
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that elevated prices for components could make Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, less competitive or pressure demand. The gaming business is also undergoing restructuring, adding uncertainty beyond Azure and productivity software. Project Helix Pricing Concerns

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Phillip Securities cut shares of Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Yorkville Ives began coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $615.00 target price on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $592.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total value of $3,984,293.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president 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. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $532.95 on Thursday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $507.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $444.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10. 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.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

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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