Seros Financial LLC Buys 1,966 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Seros Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,966 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $733,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.4% of Seros Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $85,604,000 after buying an additional 8,773 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,562,197,000 after acquiring an additional 537,634 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its position in Microsoft by 138.8% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $502,077,000 after purchasing an additional 788,297 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Melius Research set a $665.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $589.71.

More Microsoft News

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 Down 1.9%

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

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.