Merited Wealth LLC Makes New $872,000 Investment in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Merited Wealth LLC initiated an approximately $872,000 Microsoft position during the second quarter, while institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of the company.
• Microsoft reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with $4.74 earnings per share and $90.01 billion in revenue, up 17.7% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 43 Buy ratings and an average price target of $590.30, though investors are watching whether heavy AI infrastructure spending translates into revenue and improved monetization.

Merited Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,338 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $872,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.6% of Merited Wealth LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings 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 last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $18,306,443,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 9,814,598 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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 valued at $10,852,884,000 after buying an additional 2,784,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 64.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,982,083,000 after acquiring an additional 9,493,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $533.52 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $506.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $442.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 ninety days, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased 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, October 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Melius Research set a $665.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $660.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Forty-three 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $590.30.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft received a bullish signal ahead of its Oct. 28 earnings report after Bernstein raised its price target to $662 and maintained an “Outperform” rating. Investors are watching Azure growth, commercial remaining performance obligations, and whether Microsoft’s more than $115 billion in recent capital spending is translating into AI revenue. Microsoft Given New Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein
• Positive Sentiment: The company unveiled its Maia 300 AI accelerator and plans multi-gigawatt deployments beginning next year. The chip could reduce Microsoft’s reliance on Nvidia and lower inference costs, supporting the long-term economics of its AI infrastructure strategy. Microsoft's New AI Chip Could Change the Economics of AI
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced security controls for enterprise AI agents and emphasized that frontier models can pose insider-threat-like risks. The initiative could strengthen demand for Microsoft’s security products as businesses adopt agentic AI. Microsoft Introduces Security Features for AI Agents
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Microsoft as a broad way to monetize AI through Azure, Copilot, software subscriptions, and security. Expectations call for Azure growth of roughly 45%, though capacity constraints could limit near-term upside. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft withdrew as anchor customer from Nscale’s planned U.K. AI data center, reportedly because of electricity-grid and power-supply delays. The decision highlights infrastructure constraints but may also reflect disciplined capital allocation; third-party operators could benefit if hyperscalers build less capacity themselves. Microsoft Pulls Out of U.K. Data Center Deal
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s aggressive AI capital expenditures could pressure free cash flow and margins if Azure monetization does not accelerate. One analyst also said Maia remains well behind Nvidia and Google’s custom chips, limiting its near-term competitive impact. Microsoft AI Bull Case and Valuation Risks

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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