Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC Makes New $7.02 Million Investment in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 18,831 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $7,024,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.0% of Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after acquiring an additional 9,814,598 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,852,884,000 after acquiring an additional 2,784,809 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 22,138,798 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,715,379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,599,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Microsoft by 64.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,982,083,000 after acquiring an additional 9,493,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $530.00 to $575.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, September 28th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $589.71.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’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 value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Summary

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 Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $529.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $505.53 and its 200-day moving average is $440.59. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase 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 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

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.