Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC Buys 32,040 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Investor’s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC purchased 32,040 Microsoft shares worth approximately $11.95 million, making Microsoft its sixth-largest holding at 4.1% of the portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of MSFT.
• Microsoft recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.74 in earnings per share and $90.01 billion in revenue, up 17.7% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with an average price target of $589.71.
• Microsoft’s AI expansion remains a key focus, supported by positive free-cash-flow expectations, a major power agreement for data centers and custom Maia chips. However, rising infrastructure costs and U.K. regulatory scrutiny of its cloud and business-software practices present potential risks.

Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 32,040 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $11,951,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.1% of Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $60,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Microsoft to remain the only major hyperscaler with positive free cash flow over the next year despite heavy AI investment. This reinforces confidence that the company can fund data-center expansion without substantial external financing. Microsoft Free Cash Flow Expected to Remain Positive
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft signed a 20-year agreement with NiSource for approximately 1,100 megawatts of power for an Indiana data-center campus beginning in 2028. Securing electricity supports future Azure capacity as grid constraints become a bottleneck for AI expansion. Microsoft Signs Power Deal With NiSource
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s custom Maia AI chips and reports that a new model achieved comparable or better performance than OpenAI’s system using a fraction of the computing power could eventually reduce reliance on expensive third-party GPUs and improve AI economics. Microsoft Wants to Make AI Cheaper
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on Azure growth, Copilot adoption, AI monetization and capital expenditures ahead of earnings. Strong demand could support the shares, but the market wants evidence that revenue growth is translating into sustainable margins.
• Negative Sentiment: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Microsoft’s grip on business software and says Microsoft and Amazon Web Services may need to do more to address cloud-service barriers. Potential remedies could increase compliance costs or weaken customer-lock-in advantages. UK Regulator Targets Microsoft’s Business Software Grip
• Negative Sentiment: Questions remain over whether custom chips will deliver meaningful savings: AI infrastructure, power and data-center commitments are rising rapidly, while Microsoft is reportedly seeking substantial cost reductions in Azure. That creates concern about near-term free-cash-flow and margin pressure.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Microsoft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $512.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $589.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total transaction of $3,984,293.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 555,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,924,086.32. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $529.05 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50 day moving average is $505.53 and its 200 day moving average is $440.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

About Microsoft

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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