Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Newly Acquired by Quartz Partners LLC

Key Points

• Quartz Partners LLC acquired 2,448 Microsoft shares worth approximately $913,000 in the second quarter, joining several other institutions buying the stock. Institutional investors now own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with 42 Buy, four Hold and two Sell ratings. Microsoft has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $579.84.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with revenue up 17.7% year over year and EPS exceeding estimates, while raising its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share. However, insider selling, elevated AI spending, regulatory concerns and valuation remain risks.

Quartz Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,448 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $913,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,737,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,657,000. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,168,000. Strategic Equity Management bought a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $1,350,000. Finally, Strategic Advisory Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $639,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $440.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 5th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Melius Research set a $665.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $579.84.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Maia 300 AI chip is the key catalyst. Microsoft unveiled its third-generation Maia 300 processor and plans to begin production deployments in 2027, eventually scaling the platform to multiple gigawatts and potentially as many as one million chips. The company says Maia 300 can deliver approximately 40% more AI-generated tokens per megawatt or dollar than leading GPU-based systems, which could lower Azure costs and improve margins. Microsoft reveals Maia 300 AI chip
• Positive Sentiment: Greater control over AI supply and economics. Microsoft intends to make Maia a primary architecture for AI inference while continuing to use chips from Nvidia, AMD and Intel. Investors viewed the strategy as a way to reduce dependence on expensive, supply-constrained Nvidia hardware and strengthen Azure’s competitive position. Microsoft to rely more on homegrown AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Underlying growth remains strong. Recent coverage points to Azure growth guidance of 44%–45%, rising Copilot adoption, a record backlog and more than $50 billion in quarterly capital spending to meet AI demand. These trends reinforce the bullish long-term case, although the October 28 earnings report will test whether growth remains above investor expectations.
• Neutral Sentiment: AI safety and infrastructure constraints remain in focus. CEO Satya Nadella and President Brad Smith called for stronger safeguards, emergency controls and clearer AI regulation. Separately, industry leaders highlighted electricity and cooling capacity as potential limits on AI expansion. These issues may increase compliance and infrastructure costs but could also benefit Microsoft’s enterprise-focused approach.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal risks increased. The U.S. suspended Microsoft from the PERM green-card program amid scrutiny of its H-1B hiring practices, potentially complicating access to technical talent. Norway also fined Microsoft subsidiary Xandr approximately €8.6 million for sharing Grindr user data. Microsoft PERM suspension
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and execution risks persist. Some analysts downgraded Microsoft amid concerns about elevated AI capital spending, high expectations and the need for Azure growth to remain above 40%. The departure of longtime science president Peter Lee is an additional, though relatively minor, leadership concern.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $541.15 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company has a market cap of $4.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10. The business's fifty day moving average is $502.22 and its 200 day moving average is $436.28.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft

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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