Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Newly Purchased by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management acquired 632,044 Microsoft shares worth approximately $235.8 million in the second quarter, making Microsoft its fifth-largest holding at 2.5% of the portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of the company.
• Microsoft’s AI strategy remains a key growth catalyst: its Maia 300 chip is expected to enter production deployments in 2027, potentially reducing Azure’s reliance on costly third-party GPUs and improving margins. Analysts maintain a broadly bullish view, with 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 earnings exceeding estimates, while raising its quarterly dividend to $0.98. However, elevated AI spending, regulatory issues and insider stock sales—including CEO Satya Nadella’s $43.4 million sale—remain risks for investors.

Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 632,044 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $235,765,000. Microsoft comprises about 2.5% of Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cannon Wealth Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,912,000. MJP Associates Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,967,000. PCM Encore LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $17,188,000. Grand Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $581,000. Finally, Trillium Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $149,203,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

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.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Melius Research set a $665.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised Microsoft from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $579.84.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $541.15 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day moving average is $502.22 and its 200-day moving average is $436.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one 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, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.98 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

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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