River Road Asset Management LLC Purchases 33,873 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

River Road Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 489.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 40,790 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 33,873 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $564.27.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft disclosed that Azure has surpassed a $100 billion annualized revenue run rate and reorganized its reporting structure around AI agents and infrastructure. The disclosure improves visibility into the company’s fastest-growing business and reinforces the long-term AI investment case. Microsoft Breaks Out Azure Sales at $100 Billion Annualized Pace, Reorganizes AI Segments
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is supporting UpDoc’s team in an ARPA-H program developing autonomous clinical AI for cardiovascular care, alongside OpenAI and NVIDIA. The initiative offers potential strategic and reputational benefits in healthcare AI, although the immediate financial impact is likely limited. ARPA-H Selects UpDoc to Lead Development of Autonomous Clinical AI System
• Positive Sentiment: Pershing Square, managed by Bill Ackman, reportedly increased its Microsoft position by 6.2 million shares. The purchase may provide a sentiment boost by signaling confidence from a prominent activist investor. Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman Boosts Microsoft Stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong demand for high-bandwidth memory from Microsoft and other AI companies is benefiting suppliers such as SK Hynix. The report highlights Microsoft’s continued AI infrastructure spending, but also underscores dependence on costly hardware and supply-chain capacity. Nvidia and Meta Are Hungry for HBM
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday addressed a record 974 vulnerabilities, including two Windows zero-days reportedly exploited in the wild. While the fixes reduce longer-term security risk, the scale of the release may raise concerns about software quality, cybersecurity costs and potential customer disruption. Microsoft Patches Record 974 Flaws
• Negative Sentiment: An analyst downgrade argues that Microsoft’s AI capital-expenditure rotation does not yet support an optimistic view, intensifying concerns that infrastructure spending could pressure returns and free cash flow before monetization catches up. Microsoft: CapEx Rotation Does Not Support an Optimistic View
• Negative Sentiment: Fresh lawsuits from news organizations over AI training and content usage add legal and regulatory uncertainty to Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Rising Treasury yields are an additional valuation headwind for large technology companies. Microsoft’s OpenAI Partnership Draws Fresh Legal Fire

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $491.65 on Thursday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $451.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $417.95. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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 company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.