Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd Purchases New Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 156,520 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $58,385,000. Microsoft accounts for 9.4% of Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.2% during the first quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Sequent Planning LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the first quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 3,733 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the second quarter. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC now owns 687 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC now owns 5,543 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,052,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Microsoft to remain the only major hyperscaler with positive free cash flow over the next year despite heavy AI investment. This reinforces confidence that the company can fund data-center expansion without substantial external financing. Microsoft Free Cash Flow Expected to Remain Positive
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft signed a 20-year agreement with NiSource for approximately 1,100 megawatts of power for an Indiana data-center campus beginning in 2028. Securing electricity supports future Azure capacity as grid constraints become a bottleneck for AI expansion. Microsoft Signs Power Deal With NiSource
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s custom Maia AI chips and reports that a new model achieved comparable or better performance than OpenAI’s system using a fraction of the computing power could eventually reduce reliance on expensive third-party GPUs and improve AI economics. Microsoft Wants to Make AI Cheaper
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on Azure growth, Copilot adoption, AI monetization and capital expenditures ahead of earnings. Strong demand could support the shares, but the market wants evidence that revenue growth is translating into sustainable margins.
• Negative Sentiment: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Microsoft’s grip on business software and says Microsoft and Amazon Web Services may need to do more to address cloud-service barriers. Potential remedies could increase compliance costs or weaken customer-lock-in advantages. UK Regulator Targets Microsoft’s Business Software Grip
• Negative Sentiment: Questions remain over whether custom chips will deliver meaningful savings: AI infrastructure, power and data-center commitments are rising rapidly, while Microsoft is reportedly seeking substantial cost reductions in Azure. That creates concern about near-term free-cash-flow and margin pressure.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $10.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $529.05. 24,810,924 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,057,592. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $505.53 and a 200 day moving average of $440.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm’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 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total value of $3,984,293.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 555,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $302,924,086.32. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $589.71.

About Microsoft

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.