Triton Financial Group Inc Acquires New Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Triton Financial Group Inc bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,977 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $3,722,000. Microsoft accounts for 2.1% of Triton Financial Group Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $37,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 37.4% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $532.95 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $507.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $444.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a $0.98 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $512.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $592.15.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expectations are building for another earnings beat, with demand for Azure cloud infrastructure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot supporting revenue and earnings growth. The key catalyst will be Microsoft’s October 28 report, where investors will look for accelerating Azure growth and evidence that AI investments are translating into monetization. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft remains viewed favorably as a relatively cash-generative way to participate in the AI-cloud buildout. While Oracle’s cloud growth is faster, Microsoft’s stronger free cash flow, lower leverage and broad enterprise installed base may provide greater financial resilience as AI capital expenditures rise. Oracle Versus Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: A new Boeing fleet-intelligence platform, Dataliner, is being built on Microsoft Azure AI Foundry. The partnership could add a recurring enterprise workload for Azure and demonstrate Microsoft’s ability to embed AI in industry-specific applications. Boeing and Microsoft Dataliner
• Positive Sentiment: Tavant’s Microsoft Fabric accelerator is now available through Microsoft Marketplace, potentially making it easier for businesses to deploy Fabric-based analytics and AI solutions across Azure. Tavant Fabric Accelerator
• Neutral Sentiment: GitHub Copilot is reportedly a major customer of Anthropic, highlighting demand for Microsoft’s AI developer tools but also exposing reliance on outside model providers and potential supplier concentration risk. Anthropic Revenue Concentration
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s withdrawal as anchor tenant from a U.K. AI data-center project because of power-supply delays underscores a growing constraint: electricity and grid access may slow Azure’s AI capacity expansion and increase infrastructure costs. Microsoft Withdraws From UK AI Data Center Project
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that elevated prices for components could make Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, less competitive or pressure demand. The gaming business is also undergoing restructuring, adding uncertainty beyond Azure and productivity software. Project Helix Pricing Concerns

About Microsoft

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.