Arista Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,924 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.0% of Arista Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Arista Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Microsoft News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Azure backlog supports visibility. Microsoft’s commercial backlog reportedly reached approximately $678 billion, suggesting substantial future cloud revenue and helping the stock outperform during a broader technology-sector selloff. Microsoft Rises as $678 Billion Backlog Defies Tech Selloff
- Positive Sentiment: AI demand is strengthening Microsoft’s enterprise moat. Analysts and investors point to Azure, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and the company’s broad enterprise ecosystem as advantages that could support continued AI monetization. Microsoft’s stock has gained about 28% over the past month, substantially outperforming the technology-sector ETF cited in the coverage. Most Investors Overlook MSFT’s AI Moat
- Positive Sentiment: Meta Platforms is becoming a major Microsoft customer. Meta’s growing reliance on Microsoft’s infrastructure for AI could increase Azure demand and provide additional validation of Microsoft’s cloud platform. Meta Platforms Is Now One of Microsoft’s Biggest Customers
- Positive Sentiment: Data-center expansion and partnerships add incremental support. Microsoft is expanding capacity to meet AI demand, while new customer, sports, and business partnerships reinforce its cloud and AI ecosystem. These developments are strategically favorable but are unlikely to materially affect near-term earnings on their own.
- Neutral Sentiment: Technical and momentum coverage remains favorable. Several reports describe MSFT as a top-ranked momentum or rebound candidate, but these are largely investment-screening and opinion-based articles rather than new fundamental announcements. MSFT, ORCL and INTC Forecast
- Negative Sentiment: Capital intensity is the principal concern. Coverage highlights sharply lower free cash flow as Microsoft invests heavily in AI infrastructure and data centers. The rally toward the $600 level may depend on whether the next earnings report shows that booked demand is converting into revenue quickly enough to offset margin and cash-flow pressure. What Would It Take to Get MSFT Stock Up to $600?
- Negative Sentiment: Short-interest data provides no useful signal. The reported figures show zero shares sold short both currently and previously, with a zero-day short-interest ratio, indicating a likely data-quality issue rather than a meaningful change in investor positioning.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. DZ Bank reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.27.
Read Our Latest Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Price Performance
NASDAQ MSFT opened at $491.71 on Wednesday. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $423.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $410.28. The company has a market cap of $3.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for 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 business'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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
About Microsoft
(
Free Report)
Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.
Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).
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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.
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