Jericho Financial LLP Purchases 20,750 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Jericho Financial LLP purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 20,750 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $7,740,000. Microsoft makes up 4.0% of Jericho Financial LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $37,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 37.4% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $101,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In 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.

Key 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Microsoft from an “overweight” rating to a “negative” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $589.71.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $10.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $529.05. The stock had a trading volume of 24,810,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,057,592. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $505.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $440.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.