Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by River Street Advisors LLC

River Street Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,946 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,454 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.0% of River Street Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. River Street Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 30.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,852,884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,235,785,000 after purchasing an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $540.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $564.27.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure and cloud AI remain the main catalyst: Coverage highlights Azure’s more than $100 billion annual revenue milestone and 43% year-over-year growth, with agentic AI increasing demand for cloud compute. Microsoft’s Azure payment-security service also gives financial institutions a way to manage payment infrastructure in the cloud, although pricing and customer commitments were not disclosed. Microsoft Jumps as Azure Turns Payment Vaults Into a Service
• Positive Sentiment: Copilot’s enterprise reach is expanding: Causaly’s scientific research platform is now available within Microsoft Copilot and Teams, adding a specialized life-sciences workflow to Microsoft’s AI ecosystem. Microsoft Ventures is also backing ManticAI, a British startup developing AI systems for predicting global events. Causaly is Now Available in Microsoft Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Cash returns and analyst support help sentiment: Microsoft’s 8% dividend increase to $0.98 per quarter reinforces confidence in cash generation despite heavy AI investment. Citizens JMP also reiterated a “Market Outperform” rating, supporting the bullish view. Citizens JMP Reiterates Market Outperform Rating
• Neutral Sentiment: AI strategy remains a valuation debate: Microsoft is promoting an internal AI-transformation playbook and continues to position agentic AI as a major growth opportunity. Investors must weigh that opportunity against rising data-center spending, execution risks and higher interest-rate sensitivity.
• Negative Sentiment: Copyright litigation risk has intensified: Newly unsealed court documents reportedly show Microsoft and OpenAI executives describing AI products as substitutes for journalism, while one Microsoft executive characterized AI scraping as “the largest theft of labor in human history.” News organizations argue the statements weaken the companies’ fair-use defense in the New York Times copyright case, potentially increasing legal costs, damages and regulatory scrutiny. OpenAI and Microsoft executives quotes on AI training

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $497.75 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $464.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $422.27. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 21.83%.

Microsoft Company 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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