River Road Asset Management LLC Buys 33,873 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• River Road Asset Management increased its Microsoft stake by 489.7% in the second quarter, adding 33,873 shares to own 40,790 shares valued at approximately $15.2 million. Institutional investors collectively hold 71.13% of Microsoft’s stock.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue, exceeding analyst expectations; revenue grew 17.7% year over year. Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $564.27.
• Microsoft faces mixed signals: Azure surpassed a $100 billion annualized revenue run rate, but executives sold shares, cybersecurity concerns increased after a record 974-vulnerability patch release, and analysts flagged risks from elevated AI capital spending and legal scrutiny of its OpenAI relationship.

River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 489.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,790 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 33,873 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd 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 position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of MSFT opened at $491.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.65 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $451.71 and a 200 day moving average of $417.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Microsoft from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $564.27.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft disclosed that Azure has surpassed a $100 billion annualized revenue run rate and reorganized its reporting structure around AI agents and infrastructure. The disclosure improves visibility into the company’s fastest-growing business and reinforces the long-term AI investment case. Microsoft Breaks Out Azure Sales at $100 Billion Annualized Pace, Reorganizes AI Segments
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is supporting UpDoc’s team in an ARPA-H program developing autonomous clinical AI for cardiovascular care, alongside OpenAI and NVIDIA. The initiative offers potential strategic and reputational benefits in healthcare AI, although the immediate financial impact is likely limited. ARPA-H Selects UpDoc to Lead Development of Autonomous Clinical AI System
• Positive Sentiment: Pershing Square, managed by Bill Ackman, reportedly increased its Microsoft position by 6.2 million shares. The purchase may provide a sentiment boost by signaling confidence from a prominent activist investor. Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman Boosts Microsoft Stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong demand for high-bandwidth memory from Microsoft and other AI companies is benefiting suppliers such as SK Hynix. The report highlights Microsoft’s continued AI infrastructure spending, but also underscores dependence on costly hardware and supply-chain capacity. Nvidia and Meta Are Hungry for HBM
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday addressed a record 974 vulnerabilities, including two Windows zero-days reportedly exploited in the wild. While the fixes reduce longer-term security risk, the scale of the release may raise concerns about software quality, cybersecurity costs and potential customer disruption. Microsoft Patches Record 974 Flaws
• Negative Sentiment: An analyst downgrade argues that Microsoft’s AI capital-expenditure rotation does not yet support an optimistic view, intensifying concerns that infrastructure spending could pressure returns and free cash flow before monetization catches up. Microsoft: CapEx Rotation Does Not Support an Optimistic View
• Negative Sentiment: Fresh lawsuits from news organizations over AI training and content usage add legal and regulatory uncertainty to Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Rising Treasury yields are an additional valuation headwind for large technology companies. Microsoft’s OpenAI Partnership Draws Fresh Legal Fire

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock valued at $50,655,795. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

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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