Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Increased by Praxis Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Praxis Capital Management increased its Microsoft stake by 161.4% in the second quarter, holding 3,940 shares worth approximately $1.47 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of MSFT.
• Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $90.01 billion and EPS of $4.74, exceeding analyst estimates, while revenue grew 17.7% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $564.27.
• Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 from $0.91, but insiders—including CEO Satya Nadella and EVP Amy Hood—sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans during the past 90 days.

Praxis Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 161.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,940 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 2,433 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.3% of Praxis Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Praxis Capital Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanderbilt University lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 64.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanderbilt University now owns 36,416 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $13,584,000 after purchasing an additional 14,252 shares during the last quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 37,327 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $13,930,000 after buying an additional 691 shares during the period. BetterWealth LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 26.3% in the second quarter. BetterWealth LLC now owns 1,820 shares of the software giant's stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Hidden Cove Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 10.7% during the second quarter. Hidden Cove Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,948 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,711,000 after buying an additional 959 shares during the period. Finally, My Personal CFO LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 7.9% during the second quarter. My Personal CFO LLC now owns 52,047 shares of the software giant's stock worth $19,415,000 after buying an additional 3,824 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure and AI businesses remain the primary bullish catalysts. Analysts point to accelerating cloud growth, broad enterprise adoption and Microsoft’s distribution advantage through Azure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot. These Magnificent Seven Members Still Look Cheap
• Positive Sentiment: Causaly expanded its collaboration with Microsoft, making its agentic scientific-research tools available within Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft 365 and Teams. The deal supports Microsoft’s strategy of adding specialized AI workflows to its enterprise software ecosystem. Causaly is Now Available in Microsoft Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 8% quarterly dividend increase reinforces its strong cash generation and provides shareholder support, although the company continues to invest heavily in cloud and AI infrastructure. Microsoft Slips as Its Quarterly Dividend Climbs 8%
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman called recent reports of concerning model behavior at OpenAI a “serious situation” and emphasized the need for controllable, human-aligned AI. The comments highlight Microsoft’s safety focus but also underscore reputational and product-liability risks across the sector. OpenAI's latest AI revelation is a serious situation
• Negative Sentiment: Unsealed filings reportedly include Microsoft and OpenAI employees’ concerns that AI training on millions of news articles could amount to the “largest theft of labor in human history.” The disclosures may weaken the companies’ fair-use defense and increase potential litigation, licensing and regulatory costs. OpenAI, Microsoft executives' quotes on AI training threaten copyright defense
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of insider selling added to near-term sentiment pressure, while Microsoft faces competitive challenges from Salesforce’s AIforce and ongoing debate over whether its substantial AI spending will generate adequate returns. Microsoft Trading Down After Insider Selling

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $493.78 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $466.97 and a 200 day moving average of $422.77. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.

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, 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 analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $564.27.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.