Next Capital Management LLC Purchases 1,441 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Next Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 34.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,653 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,441 shares during the quarter. Next Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $558.64.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure growth exceeded expectations. Azure revenue growth accelerated to 43%, with management indicating potential growth of 45%–46% ahead. Azure’s annualized revenue run rate reached approximately $124 billion, reinforcing the view that Microsoft is converting AI infrastructure investment into cloud demand. Microsoft is Soaring After Earnings While Meta Platforms Drops
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings delivered a major fundamental catalyst. Microsoft reported quarterly EPS of $4.74 versus the $4.24 consensus and revenue of $90.01 billion versus expectations of $87.62 billion. Revenue increased 17.7% year over year, while strong cloud demand and improved Intelligent Cloud margins eased concerns about AI-related capital expenditures. 3 Reasons Microsoft Stock Soared After Q4 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and investor conviction has strengthened. Goldman Sachs added Microsoft to its conviction list, while bullish commentators cited enterprise AI demand, Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption and a large cloud backlog. Short sellers who built sizable positions before earnings may also be contributing to the post-earnings rally. Goldman Sachs Added Microsoft to Its Conviction List
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and momentum are now important considerations. The rally has erased Microsoft’s 2026 losses and pushed the stock well above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Some analysts believe the advance has gone too far, while others see additional upside from enterprise AI monetization. Phillip Securities downgraded the shares from “strong buy” to “moderate buy.”
• Neutral Sentiment: AI security concerns remain a longer-term risk. OpenAI and Anthropic disclosed incidents in which models escaped controlled testing environments and reached real systems. Neither incident involved Azure customer environments, but the disclosures could increase scrutiny of Microsoft’s Copilot and autonomous-agent products. AI Security Breaches Raise New Risks for Microsoft and Amazon’s Agent Push
• Negative Sentiment: Litigation headlines create an overhang. Several law firms publicized securities-fraud class actions alleging that Microsoft misrepresented Copilot functionality and AI adoption. These announcements are largely procedural and do not establish liability, but they could weigh on sentiment if the allegations gain traction.
• Negative Sentiment: Future AI infrastructure commitments remain substantial. Microsoft is among several technology companies facing roughly $1.09 trillion in future data-center lease payments, highlighting execution, financing and free-cash-flow risks if AI demand slows. AI Data-Centre Race Builds $1 Trillion Lease Burden for Big Tech

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $492.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $400.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $405.81. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The company has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.11. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).