Sacks & Associates LLC Purchases New Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Sacks & Associates LLC acquired 1,179 Microsoft shares during the second quarter, valued at approximately $440,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.74 in earnings per share and $90.01 billion in revenue, with revenue up 17.7% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 43 Buy ratings, four Holds and one Sell, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $571.18. Meanwhile, insiders sold $71.4 million of stock during the quarter, including CEO Satya Nadella’s $43.4 million sale.

Sacks & Associates LLC acquired 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 firm acquired 1,179 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in Microsoft by 30.8% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,235,785,000 after buying an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Microsoft by 10.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,852,884,000 after buying an additional 2,784,809 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 22,138,798 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,715,379,000 after buying an additional 1,599,412 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $512.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $487.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $429.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. CLSA reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $571.18.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism is supporting MSFT. Wells Fargo added Microsoft to its Q4 Tactical Ideas list and reportedly raised its price target to $725, citing accelerating Azure growth and improving Copilot monetization. The bullish calls follow Microsoft’s strongest quarterly performance in decades and reflect growing confidence that AI spending is translating into revenue. What's Going On With Microsoft Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: New real-time AI voice models expand Microsoft’s addressable market. Microsoft launched three speech and transcription models, including MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming, which can begin responding in roughly 320 milliseconds. The technology targets contact centers, multilingual assistants, live captions and other enterprise voice applications, potentially creating additional demand for Microsoft’s AI platform and cloud services. Microsoft Targets Contact Center Market With Real-Time AI Voice Models
• Positive Sentiment: Recent performance reinforces the AI growth narrative. Microsoft shares gained about 38% during the third quarter after earnings showed the fastest Azure growth in four years, driven by strong AI demand. Investors also point to expanding Copilot adoption, enterprise licensing opportunities and continued integration of AI agents into Microsoft’s software ecosystem. MSFT Stock Rallies 38% as Wall Street Sees Microsoft’s AI Spending Pay Off
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is experiencing senior leadership turnover. LinkedIn chief Ryan Roslansky and Microsoft Science president Peter Lee are expected to depart. Roslansky’s exit follows nearly 18 years with LinkedIn and Microsoft and adds to ongoing changes in the company’s AI leadership structure. Former LinkedIn chief Roslansky to leave Microsoft
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and investment intensity remain key risks. Some commentary argues that Microsoft’s rally has increased reliance on a higher valuation multiple, while AI infrastructure spending may outpace free cash flow if compute prices decline or monetization disappoints. These concerns could limit upside even as Azure demand remains strong. The AI Revolution Could Be Microsoft’s Next Trillion-Dollar Opportunity

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft's productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

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