Rathbones Group PLC Acquires 101,616 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Rathbones Group PLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,613,937 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 101,616 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 5.3% of Rathbones Group PLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,337,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the first quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 107,306 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $39,721,000 after purchasing an additional 2,689 shares during the last quarter. Positano Wealth Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 122.4% in the 1st quarter. Positano Wealth Management Ltd now owns 44,601 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,510,000 after purchasing an additional 24,550 shares during the last quarter. Farmers National Bank boosted its position in Microsoft by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 56,251 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,822,000 after purchasing an additional 3,796 shares during the period. Evansbrook LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Evansbrook LLC now owns 6,060 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,243,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthquest Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Wealthquest Corp now owns 13,041 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,828,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure business reportedly surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue, reinforcing confidence that AI demand is translating into substantial cloud growth. The company’s strong recent earnings, rising Microsoft 365 seat count and increasing adoption of premium E7 and Copilot offerings provide additional long-term growth support. Azure revenue article Microsoft 365 seats article
• Positive Sentiment: William Blair reaffirmed a Buy rating, citing early AI monetization and a constructive long-term risk-reward profile. Other coverage highlighted Microsoft’s ability to generate cash while investing heavily in AI infrastructure, distinguishing it from some competitors. Microsoft Buy rating article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is developing its Maia 300 AI accelerator, potentially reducing dependence on Nvidia processors and improving supply flexibility and infrastructure economics over time. Maia 300 chip article
• Neutral Sentiment: A partnership with Plug Power tested hydrogen fuel-cell backup power for Microsoft data centers. The trial could support data-center resilience, but Plug’s CEO said it does not represent a strategic pivot or an immediate material change for Microsoft. Plug Power and Microsoft article
• Negative Sentiment: A Guardian investigation raised questions about a possible shortfall in advanced AI chips installed across Microsoft’s facilities relative to its stated data-center expansion plans. Reports cited a potential gap of roughly 2.2 million chips, fueling concerns about deployment timing, capacity and near-term AI revenue growth. Microsoft chip capacity article
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley warned that heavy AI capital expenditure and rising debt-related obligations could pressure hyperscaler credit quality. Although Microsoft has a strong balance sheet, the warning increases scrutiny of whether massive infrastructure spending will generate adequate returns. Morgan Stanley hyperscaler warning

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.27.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $480.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $412.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $408.06. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Microsoft 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).