Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Newly Purchased by Ratan Capital Management LP

Ratan Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,250 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $839,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $85,604,000 after acquiring an additional 8,773 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,652,000. Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,641,000. Markel Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their position. 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 sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $521.08 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $507.93 and a 200-day moving average of $445.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI diagnostic system reportedly diagnosed complex medical cases more than twice as often as generalist physicians in a simulation published in Science. The result supports the company’s ambitions in healthcare and “medical superintelligence.” Microsoft AI medical diagnostic study
• Positive Sentiment: Reports highlighted strong underlying cloud momentum: Azure annual revenue has surpassed $100 billion, cloud-services growth reached 43%, and Microsoft’s commercial backlog rose to approximately $678 billion. These trends could support the investment case if the company demonstrates continued acceleration in its upcoming earnings report. Microsoft cloud demand and backlog
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella said Microsoft is reorganizing around AI agents, broader model choice and lower-cost computing. The strategy could expand Copilot and Azure adoption across business workflows. Microsoft AI agent strategy
• Positive Sentiment: A strategic collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim will pursue AI-backed clinical development and digital patient twins, providing another potential application for Microsoft’s cloud and AI platforms. Microsoft and Boehringer Ingelheim partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on next week’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report. Analysts expect double-digit earnings growth, but the market increasingly wants evidence that Azure growth can keep pace with rivals and justify Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure investments. Microsoft earnings preview
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s large AI capital expenditures remain a key valuation risk. While spending may create a long-term competitive moat, investors are concerned that data-center and infrastructure costs could pressure near-term returns, especially amid higher interest rates and market volatility. Microsoft AI spending and investment risk
• Negative Sentiment: Xbox announced pricing for cloud streaming of games users already own, prompting concerns about consumer reaction and pressure on Microsoft’s gaming business. Xbox cloud gaming pricing
• Negative Sentiment: Former CEO Bill Gates warned that AI could bring roughly two decades of disruption, reinforcing investor concerns about an AI investment bubble and the potential for expensive projects to produce uncertain returns. Bill Gates AI disruption comments

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Wolfe Research downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $440.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $592.15.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company’s principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.