R Squared Ltd Increases Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• R Squared Ltd increased its Microsoft stake by 71.5% in the first quarter, buying 2,951 additional shares and bringing its total to 7,077 shares valued at about $2.62 million.
• Microsoft’s fundamentals remain strong: the company recently beat earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $4.27 EPS on $82.89 billion in revenue, with revenue up 18.3% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is still mostly positive, with 42 Buy ratings and a consensus “Moderate Buy” target price of $557.46, though some recent analysts have trimmed targets or shifted to Hold.

R Squared Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 71.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,077 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,951 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.4% of R Squared Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. R Squared Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and set a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 6th. China Renaissance dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 6th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $557.46.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $402.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $400.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $410.17. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 21.67%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced an expanded strategic partnership with AMD to deploy Helios systems across Azure, reinforcing its AI infrastructure buildout and giving the stock a near-term boost. Microsoft expands AMD partnership with Helios AI infrastructure deployment on Azure
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators are framing Microsoft as attractively valued ahead of earnings, with some highlighting upside from Azure growth, AI execution, and Copilot adoption if management delivers strong commentary. Microsoft Stock Price Offers ‘Attractive Entry Point,’ Says Deutsche Bank Ahead of Q2 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is approaching fiscal Q4 earnings on July 29, and investors are watching for updates on Azure growth, AI spending, and whether Copilot is gaining traction. Microsoft earnings to spotlight Azure growth, AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment is also being weighed down by a new securities-fraud lawsuit tied to prior AI/Copilot disclosures, which could add legal and reputational overhang ahead of earnings. MSFT Investors Have Opportunity to Lead Microsoft Corporation Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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