Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Newly Purchased by Solstein Capital LLC

Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 22,846 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $8,522,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.8% of Solstein Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Jericho Financial LLP acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $7,740,000. Alpha Advisors LLC VA acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $1,291,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $635,732,000. Capital Square LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $2,035,000. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $56,775,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded 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. CLSA reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Microsoft from an “overweight” rating to a “negative” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Forty-two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $589.71.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

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 Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $10.39 on Friday, hitting $529.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 24,810,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,057,592. The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $505.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $440.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft Profile

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.