PDT Partners LLC Makes New $522,000 Investment in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• PDT Partners purchased 1,400 Microsoft shares worth approximately $522,000 during the second quarter, while institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with 43 Buy ratings versus four Holds and two Sells; Microsoft has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $590.30 target price, despite recent downgrades from Wolfe Research and Raymond James.
• Microsoft exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue, while raising its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share. Shares opened at $533.52, near their 52-week high.

PDT 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,400 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $522,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Palisade Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,371,000. Cooper Haims Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $2,383,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $5,653,812,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,646,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,943,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $590.30.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.8%

Microsoft stock opened at $533.52 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $506.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $442.31. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total transaction of $3,984,293.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 555,396 shares in the company, valued at $302,924,086.32. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft received a bullish signal ahead of its Oct. 28 earnings report after Bernstein raised its price target to $662 and maintained an “Outperform” rating. Investors are watching Azure growth, commercial remaining performance obligations, and whether Microsoft’s more than $115 billion in recent capital spending is translating into AI revenue. Microsoft Given New Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein
• Positive Sentiment: The company unveiled its Maia 300 AI accelerator and plans multi-gigawatt deployments beginning next year. The chip could reduce Microsoft’s reliance on Nvidia and lower inference costs, supporting the long-term economics of its AI infrastructure strategy. Microsoft's New AI Chip Could Change the Economics of AI
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced security controls for enterprise AI agents and emphasized that frontier models can pose insider-threat-like risks. The initiative could strengthen demand for Microsoft’s security products as businesses adopt agentic AI. Microsoft Introduces Security Features for AI Agents
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Microsoft as a broad way to monetize AI through Azure, Copilot, software subscriptions, and security. Expectations call for Azure growth of roughly 45%, though capacity constraints could limit near-term upside. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft withdrew as anchor customer from Nscale’s planned U.K. AI data center, reportedly because of electricity-grid and power-supply delays. The decision highlights infrastructure constraints but may also reflect disciplined capital allocation; third-party operators could benefit if hyperscalers build less capacity themselves. Microsoft Pulls Out of U.K. Data Center Deal
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s aggressive AI capital expenditures could pressure free cash flow and margins if Azure monetization does not accelerate. One analyst also said Maia remains well behind Nvidia and Google’s custom chips, limiting its near-term competitive impact. Microsoft AI Bull Case and Valuation Risks

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.