Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Newly Purchased by Wallace Capital Management Inc.

Wallace Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,954 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $60,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $533.52 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $506.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $442.31. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued 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 yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, September 10th. CLSA reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane cut Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Microsoft from an “overweight” rating to a “negative” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $590.30.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft received a bullish signal ahead of its Oct. 28 earnings report after Bernstein raised its price target to $662 and maintained an “Outperform” rating. Investors are watching Azure growth, commercial remaining performance obligations, and whether Microsoft’s more than $115 billion in recent capital spending is translating into AI revenue. Microsoft Given New Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein
• Positive Sentiment: The company unveiled its Maia 300 AI accelerator and plans multi-gigawatt deployments beginning next year. The chip could reduce Microsoft’s reliance on Nvidia and lower inference costs, supporting the long-term economics of its AI infrastructure strategy. Microsoft’s New AI Chip Could Change the Economics of AI
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced security controls for enterprise AI agents and emphasized that frontier models can pose insider-threat-like risks. The initiative could strengthen demand for Microsoft’s security products as businesses adopt agentic AI. Microsoft Introduces Security Features for AI Agents
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Microsoft as a broad way to monetize AI through Azure, Copilot, software subscriptions, and security. Expectations call for Azure growth of roughly 45%, though capacity constraints could limit near-term upside. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft withdrew as anchor customer from Nscale’s planned U.K. AI data center, reportedly because of electricity-grid and power-supply delays. The decision highlights infrastructure constraints but may also reflect disciplined capital allocation; third-party operators could benefit if hyperscalers build less capacity themselves. Microsoft Pulls Out of U.K. Data Center Deal
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s aggressive AI capital expenditures could pressure free cash flow and margins if Azure monetization does not accelerate. One analyst also said Maia remains well behind Nvidia and Google’s custom chips, limiting its near-term competitive impact. Microsoft AI Bull Case and Valuation Risks

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft 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.