L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Boosts Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 120,590 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 3,369 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.7% of L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $44,982,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in Microsoft by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after purchasing an additional 9,814,598 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,852,884,000 after buying an additional 2,784,809 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock worth $12,235,785,000 after buying an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 64.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 9,493,778 shares in 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 topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $567.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% 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 90 days, insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $501.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72. 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's fifty day moving average is $469.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $423.62.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 earnings per share 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 dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 20.27%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher Azure prices could support growth and margins. BNP Paribas said Microsoft may gain another growth lever as higher Azure prices are introduced to renewing customers, assigning a $549 price target. Microsoft’s Azure Has Another Growth Lever Waiting in the Wings, Analyst Says
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their outlooks on AI demand. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted its Microsoft price target from $522 to $608 and maintained an overweight rating, citing opportunities in AI and cybersecurity. Erste Group also raised its earnings estimates. Cantor Fitzgerald Raises Microsoft Price Target to $608
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure demand remains substantial. Microsoft and Anthropic reportedly represent $87.7 billion of the $103 billion contract backlog at AI infrastructure provider Nscale, highlighting the scale of enterprise AI spending and potential Azure demand. Microsoft and Anthropic dominate Nscale’s contract backlog
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder-return and valuation support added to the bullish case. Bill Ackman described Microsoft as a core holding after building a roughly $2.4 billion position, while Microsoft’s dividend increase and strong software franchise were cited as additional attractions.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is adding a fourth cloud region in Hyderabad, improving geographic resilience, although the company provided no site-level capacity or investment details. Satya Nadella’s expected attendance at a Trump-Xi state dinner could provide diplomatic visibility but has limited direct financial impact.
• Negative Sentiment: Copyright and AI-regulation concerns remain overhangs. Publisher testimony in ongoing copyright disputes has intensified questions about whether AI products substitute for original content. Microsoft executives have also warned that divergent AI rules could affect industry economics. Microsoft Slips as AI Testimony Sharpens Copyright Risk
• Negative Sentiment: New gaming-advertising initiatives generated investor skepticism. A patent covering contextual in-game advertisements raised concerns about user experience and monetization strategy. Microsoft Stock Slips on Xbox Patent for Ads in Video Games
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are weighing elevated AI capital spending, cloud-security concerns following the Hugging Face incident and the possibility that expectations are already priced in after Microsoft’s powerful summer advance. Redburn’s lower $440 target underscores the disagreement over valuation.

Microsoft Profile

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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