Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Newly Acquired by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors acquired 939,168 Microsoft shares in the second quarter, valued at approximately $350.3 million and representing 1.3% of its portfolio. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported quarterly EPS of $4.74 and revenue of $90.01 billion, exceeding analyst estimates, while revenue grew 17.7% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share from $0.91.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with 41 Buy ratings and an average price target of $581.24, although several firms recently downgraded the stock or lowered forecasts. Microsoft insiders have sold approximately $75.4 million of shares over the past 90 days.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 939,168 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $350,329,000. Microsoft comprises 1.3% of EP Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $101,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $533.69 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $504.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $438.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.72, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 300 custom AI accelerator, designed for multi-gigawatt deployment across Azure data centers. Management says it can deliver 40% more tokens per megawatt than a GPU-based system, potentially lowering inference costs and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD hardware. What Could Microsoft Gain From Its Maia 300 AI Chip Rollout?
• Positive Sentiment: Investor optimism remains focused on Azure growth, Microsoft’s AI backlog, and more than $130 billion in reported data-center leases. The scale of commitments supports long-term demand for Azure and Copilot, although it also raises capital-spending risks. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects the upcoming fiscal first-quarter report to show improving differentiation in software. Earnings are scheduled for October 28. Microsoft Price Target Raised by Barclays
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure chief reportedly seeks at least 20% cost cuts in an effort to offset soaring AI data-center expenses. The move could improve efficiency and margins, but it also highlights pressure from the company’s aggressive investment cycle. Microsoft Weighs 20% Cost Cuts in Azure
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is introducing new AI-enabled Surface devices and an Xbox Nano Controller, supporting its broader push to put generative AI into consumer hardware. These products are strategically relevant but are unlikely to materially affect near-term results.
• Negative Sentiment: Hot inflation data pushed bond yields higher and triggered a broad selloff in AI-related shares, increasing concern that expensive AI infrastructure projects may face higher financing costs and tougher valuation scrutiny.
• Negative Sentiment: Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft to “hold,” while Erste Group made a minor reduction to its FY2028 earnings forecast. These actions add to near-term caution following the stock’s strong run.
• Negative Sentiment: EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares worth approximately $4.0 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Because the sale was scheduled in advance and represents only 1.3% of her holdings, it is a limited bearish signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft issued security updates addressing more than 1,400 vulnerabilities could renew concerns about cybersecurity exposure, though patching the flaws is ultimately protective.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on MSFT shares. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Microsoft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Melius Research set a $665.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $581.24.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft's productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

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