Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management inc. Purchases 23,984 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 23,984 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $8,878,000. Microsoft comprises about 1.9% of Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Balanced Rock Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $611,000. Camarda Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,086,000. Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,641,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $619,000. Finally, Yukon Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $8,259,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

MSFT opened at $532.95 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $507.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $444.58. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is a boost 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total transaction of $3,984,293.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 555,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $302,924,086.32. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $660.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $592.15.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expectations are building for another earnings beat, with demand for Azure cloud infrastructure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot supporting revenue and earnings growth. The key catalyst will be Microsoft’s October 28 report, where investors will look for accelerating Azure growth and evidence that AI investments are translating into monetization. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft remains viewed favorably as a relatively cash-generative way to participate in the AI-cloud buildout. While Oracle’s cloud growth is faster, Microsoft’s stronger free cash flow, lower leverage and broad enterprise installed base may provide greater financial resilience as AI capital expenditures rise. Oracle Versus Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: A new Boeing fleet-intelligence platform, Dataliner, is being built on Microsoft Azure AI Foundry. The partnership could add a recurring enterprise workload for Azure and demonstrate Microsoft’s ability to embed AI in industry-specific applications. Boeing and Microsoft Dataliner
• Positive Sentiment: Tavant’s Microsoft Fabric accelerator is now available through Microsoft Marketplace, potentially making it easier for businesses to deploy Fabric-based analytics and AI solutions across Azure. Tavant Fabric Accelerator
• Neutral Sentiment: GitHub Copilot is reportedly a major customer of Anthropic, highlighting demand for Microsoft’s AI developer tools but also exposing reliance on outside model providers and potential supplier concentration risk. Anthropic Revenue Concentration
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s withdrawal as anchor tenant from a U.K. AI data-center project because of power-supply delays underscores a growing constraint: electricity and grid access may slow Azure’s AI capacity expansion and increase infrastructure costs. Microsoft Withdraws From UK AI Data Center Project
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that elevated prices for components could make Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, less competitive or pressure demand. The gaming business is also undergoing restructuring, adding uncertainty beyond Azure and productivity software. Project Helix Pricing Concerns

About Microsoft

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.