Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA Purchases New Shares in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Kelly Lawrence W & Associates acquired 6,365 Microsoft shares worth approximately $2.37 million in the second quarter. Several other institutions also initiated positions, with institutional investors and hedge funds owning 71.13% of MSFT.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish: 42 rate Microsoft a Buy, with an average price target of $589.71. Recent quarterly results beat expectations, with $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue, up 17.7% year over year.
• Microsoft is expanding its AI infrastructure through custom Maia chips and a 20-year, 1,100-megawatt power agreement, while investors monitor capital spending, margins and regulatory scrutiny of its cloud and business-software dominance.

Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 6,365 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $2,374,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Sone Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $30,533,000. Trajan Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $103,382,000. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $37,112,000. Veratis Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $826,000. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,428,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 555,396 shares in the company, valued at $302,924,086.32. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Melius Research set a $665.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Microsoft from $512.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $589.71.

Microsoft News Summary

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.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $529.05 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $505.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $441.16. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72.

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 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 net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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