Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s 3rd Largest Position

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 258,696 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,829 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.4% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $96,499,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft agreed to a long-term partnership with Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN to bring its ALLAM Arabic-language AI models to Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The deal expands Azure’s enterprise AI reach in the Middle East and adds regional-language capabilities to Microsoft’s ecosystem. Microsoft Expands Middle East AI Footprint Through Long-Term HUMAIN Deal
• Positive Sentiment: China’s Moonshot AI is reportedly discussing revenue-sharing arrangements with Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet that could allow the cloud providers to host its Kimi K3 model. If completed, the arrangement could generate additional Azure consumption and provide access to a large pool of enterprise AI customers. China’s Moonshot in talks with Microsoft, Amazon, Google over K3 revenue sharing
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s roughly $678 billion commercial backlog and growing reliance on Azure for AI workloads—including demand from major customers such as Meta—continue to reinforce the long-term revenue outlook. Pershing Square’s decision to make Microsoft its largest AI holding also provides a favorable institutional signal. Microsoft Rises as $678 Billion Backlog Defies Tech Selloff
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is developing its own Maia 300 AI chip, potentially reducing dependence on third-party GPUs and improving inference economics over time. However, custom silicon requires significant upfront investment, and the financial benefits remain unproven. OpenAI’s Jalapeño Chip Could Change the AI Hardware Race
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI capacity is converting into cash more slowly than expected. Fulfilling the backlog requires a historically large data-center buildout, while rising memory and server costs are increasing pressure on capital spending and near-term margins. Microsoft’s AI Capacity Is Selling – But Cash Conversion Is Lagging
• Negative Sentiment: Critics say Microsoft provides insufficient disclosure on AI revenue, costs and capital allocation, making it difficult to assess returns on its AI investments. A slightly hotter-than-expected core PCE reading also creates a broader valuation headwind for richly valued technology shares. Microsoft Is Leaving Investors Flying Blind on Its AI Businesses

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. President Capital raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank reduced their price target on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Arete Research boosted their target price on Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $496.37 on Thursday. 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 twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $425.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $411.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft Company 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).