Meridian Management Co. Acquires 6,087 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Meridian Management Co. raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1,135.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,623 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 6,087 shares during the quarter. Meridian Management Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 980,298 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $362,877,000 after acquiring an additional 3,211 shares in the last quarter. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.7% in the first quarter. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,684 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,714,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.6% in the first quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. now owns 28,891 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,695,000 after acquiring an additional 2,774 shares in the last quarter. Ellerson Group Inc. ADV increased its position in Microsoft by 36.1% during the 1st quarter. Ellerson Group Inc. ADV now owns 927 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, Cogent Strategic Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 139.6% in the 1st quarter. Cogent Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 2,892 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. China Renaissance lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $558.64.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure growth exceeded expectations: Azure revenue increased 43%, ahead of roughly 40% analyst expectations, and annual Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time. The performance eased concerns that demand for AI infrastructure might be slowing. Microsoft tops quarterly cloud growth estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings beat: Microsoft reported $4.74 in adjusted EPS versus a $4.24 consensus estimate and $90.01 billion in revenue versus expectations of $87.62 billion. Revenue rose 17.7% year over year, while profit increased about 31%. Microsoft fourth-quarter earnings
• Positive Sentiment: AI monetization is accelerating: Microsoft 365 Copilot surpassed 30 million paid seats, while management described the next growth phase as a “per seat plus consumption” model. Investors viewed Azure and Copilot adoption as evidence that AI investments are translating into commercial demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Spending concerns moderated: Microsoft held its capital-expenditure outlook broadly steady and said it expects continued cash generation in fiscal 2027. Management also said GPU spending could be adjusted if demand weakens, helping counter fears of unchecked AI-related cash burn. Microsoft keeps capex forecast unchanged
• Positive Sentiment: Backlog and analyst support improved: Commercial remaining performance obligations reached a record $678 billion, up 84% year over year. RBC, Goldman Sachs, BMO, TD Cowen and DA Davidson were among firms maintaining positive ratings or raising targets.
• Neutral Sentiment: Xbox strategy: New gaming chief Asha Sharma aims to exceed peers’ margins by 2030 through Minecraft investment and partnerships, including in China. The plan could support longer-term profitability but remains execution-dependent. Microsoft Xbox margin plan
• Negative Sentiment: Risks remain: Wiz reported a cloud vulnerability that could have exposed Microsoft customers, while U.K. regulators are investigating Microsoft 365 subscription marketing. Several securities-fraud law firms also publicized shareholder lawsuits. These developments are potential overhangs, although they did not offset the earnings-driven optimism.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 15.5%

Microsoft stock opened at $451.10 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $397.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $405.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.07% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).