Osterweis Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Osterweis Capital Management acquired 140,900 Microsoft shares worth approximately $52.6 million, making MSFT its eighth-largest holding and 2.5% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of the stock.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $589.71, although Morgan Stanley downgraded the shares to “negative.” Meanwhile, Microsoft insiders sold roughly $75.4 million of stock over the past three months.
• Microsoft beat quarterly expectations with $4.74 in earnings per share and $90.01 billion in revenue, while revenue grew 17.7% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share as investors weigh AI spending, Azure growth and potential margin pressure.

Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 140,900 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $52,559,000. Microsoft comprises 2.5% of Osterweis Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered Microsoft from an "overweight" rating to a "negative" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $589.71.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Microsoft to remain the only major hyperscaler with positive free cash flow over the next year despite heavy AI investment. This reinforces confidence that the company can fund data-center expansion without substantial external financing. Microsoft Free Cash Flow Expected to Remain Positive
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft signed a 20-year agreement with NiSource for approximately 1,100 megawatts of power for an Indiana data-center campus beginning in 2028. Securing electricity supports future Azure capacity as grid constraints become a bottleneck for AI expansion. Microsoft Signs Power Deal With NiSource
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s custom Maia AI chips and reports that a new model achieved comparable or better performance than OpenAI’s system using a fraction of the computing power could eventually reduce reliance on expensive third-party GPUs and improve AI economics. Microsoft Wants to Make AI Cheaper
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on Azure growth, Copilot adoption, AI monetization and capital expenditures ahead of earnings. Strong demand could support the shares, but the market wants evidence that revenue growth is translating into sustainable margins.
• Negative Sentiment: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Microsoft’s grip on business software and says Microsoft and Amazon Web Services may need to do more to address cloud-service barriers. Potential remedies could increase compliance costs or weaken customer-lock-in advantages. UK Regulator Targets Microsoft’s Business Software Grip
• Negative Sentiment: Questions remain over whether custom chips will deliver meaningful savings: AI infrastructure, power and data-center commitments are rising rapidly, while Microsoft is reportedly seeking substantial cost reductions in Azure. That creates concern about near-term free-cash-flow and margin pressure.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $529.05 on Monday. 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 one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $505.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $441.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Microsoft Company Profile

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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