Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Newly Acquired by Fox Hill Wealth Management

Key Points

• Fox Hill Wealth Management acquired 44,074 Microsoft shares worth approximately $16.44 million in the second quarter, making Microsoft its largest holding at 6.6% of the portfolio.
• Institutional investors own 71.13% of Microsoft, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $592.15; Mizuho recently raised its target to $600.
• Microsoft exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue rising 17.7% year over year, and increased its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share. Investors remain focused on Azure growth and whether heavy AI infrastructure spending will generate sufficient returns.

Fox Hill Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 44,074 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $16,440,000. Microsoft accounts for about 6.6% of Fox Hill Wealth Management's holdings, making the stock its largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $85,604,000 after buying an additional 8,773 shares during the last quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,652,000. Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,641,000. Markel Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock worth $199,014,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,562,197,000 after buying an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI diagnostic system reportedly diagnosed complex medical cases more than twice as often as generalist physicians in a simulation published in Science. The result supports the company’s ambitions in healthcare and “medical superintelligence.” Microsoft AI medical diagnostic study
• Positive Sentiment: Reports highlighted strong underlying cloud momentum: Azure annual revenue has surpassed $100 billion, cloud-services growth reached 43%, and Microsoft’s commercial backlog rose to approximately $678 billion. These trends could support the investment case if the company demonstrates continued acceleration in its upcoming earnings report. Microsoft cloud demand and backlog
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella said Microsoft is reorganizing around AI agents, broader model choice and lower-cost computing. The strategy could expand Copilot and Azure adoption across business workflows. Microsoft AI agent strategy
• Positive Sentiment: A strategic collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim will pursue AI-backed clinical development and digital patient twins, providing another potential application for Microsoft’s cloud and AI platforms. Microsoft and Boehringer Ingelheim partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on next week’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report. Analysts expect double-digit earnings growth, but the market increasingly wants evidence that Azure growth can keep pace with rivals and justify Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure investments. Microsoft earnings preview
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s large AI capital expenditures remain a key valuation risk. While spending may create a long-term competitive moat, investors are concerned that data-center and infrastructure costs could pressure near-term returns, especially amid higher interest rates and market volatility. Microsoft AI spending and investment risk
• Negative Sentiment: Xbox announced pricing for cloud streaming of games users already own, prompting concerns about consumer reaction and pressure on Microsoft’s gaming business. Xbox cloud gaming pricing
• Negative Sentiment: Former CEO Bill Gates warned that AI could bring roughly two decades of disruption, reinforcing investor concerns about an AI investment bubble and the potential for expensive projects to produce uncertain returns. Bill Gates AI disruption comments

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business'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 transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company'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 sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Mizuho upped their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Finally, William Blair started coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $592.15.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $521.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $507.93 and a 200-day moving average of $445.62. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. 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 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

About Microsoft

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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