Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Griffin Asset Management Inc.

Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,676 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.1% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Griffin Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $29,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 234.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,822,280 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,619,211,000 after buying an additional 12,493,786 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Microsoft by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after buying an additional 9,814,598 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 64.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,982,083,000 after acquiring an additional 9,493,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 38,442.1% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,810,388 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,521,001,000 after acquiring an additional 6,792,718 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 the 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 trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 20th. Barclays cut their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $569.29.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7%

MSFT opened at $498.00 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $471.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $424.28. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 20.27%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their outlook. Oppenheimer increased its Microsoft price target to $570 from $515 while maintaining an Outperform rating, citing sustained Azure and Microsoft 365 commercial momentum into fiscal 2027. Cantor Fitzgerald also reportedly raised its target to $608 and kept an Overweight rating. Oppenheimer Microsoft price target article
• Positive Sentiment: Azure has additional growth levers. BNP Paribas said recent Azure strength may not reflect the full opportunity, pointing to higher pricing as contracts renew, capacity expansion and a potential SpaceX cloud relationship. Azure growth has reportedly reached the mid-40% range, supporting the view that AI infrastructure demand can continue driving revenue. BNP Paribas Azure outlook article
• Positive Sentiment: Capital returns remain supportive. Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend approximately 8% to $0.98 per share, extending its dividend-growth streak to more than two decades. The increase signals management confidence, although the modest yield is unlikely to be the primary stock catalyst. Microsoft dividend increase article
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI remains both an opportunity and a concentration risk. Microsoft’s AI partner is reportedly seeking a valuation above $1.2 trillion, potentially reinforcing Microsoft’s Azure and Copilot ecosystem. However, projected cash burn of roughly $278 billion and the company’s reliance on Microsoft-supported infrastructure raise questions about customer durability and AI spending economics. OpenAI valuation and Microsoft article
• Negative Sentiment: Xbox layoffs pressured sentiment. Microsoft is cutting approximately 268 Xbox jobs, with broader reports pointing to roughly 500 affected employees, while shifting the next Halo game to Activision. The move highlights a continuing gaming reset and was the clearest near-term reason for weakness in MSFT shares. Microsoft Xbox restructuring article
• Negative Sentiment: AI execution risks remain. Investors continue to monitor heavy capital spending, copyright and regulatory challenges, and concerns that AI revenue is concentrated among a small number of customers. These risks could pressure margins or the valuation if Azure growth fails to meet elevated expectations.

Microsoft 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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