Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s 3rd Largest Position

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 258,696 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,829 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 5.4% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $96,499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,060,557,000 after buying an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after buying an additional 1,911,142 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after buying an additional 980,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $496.37 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $425.67 and a 200 day moving average of $411.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors 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 payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.27.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft agreed to a long-term partnership with Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN to bring its ALLAM Arabic-language AI models to Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The deal expands Azure’s enterprise AI reach in the Middle East and adds regional-language capabilities to Microsoft’s ecosystem. Microsoft Expands Middle East AI Footprint Through Long-Term HUMAIN Deal
• Positive Sentiment: China’s Moonshot AI is reportedly discussing revenue-sharing arrangements with Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet that could allow the cloud providers to host its Kimi K3 model. If completed, the arrangement could generate additional Azure consumption and provide access to a large pool of enterprise AI customers. China’s Moonshot in talks with Microsoft, Amazon, Google over K3 revenue sharing
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s roughly $678 billion commercial backlog and growing reliance on Azure for AI workloads—including demand from major customers such as Meta—continue to reinforce the long-term revenue outlook. Pershing Square’s decision to make Microsoft its largest AI holding also provides a favorable institutional signal. Microsoft Rises as $678 Billion Backlog Defies Tech Selloff
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is developing its own Maia 300 AI chip, potentially reducing dependence on third-party GPUs and improving inference economics over time. However, custom silicon requires significant upfront investment, and the financial benefits remain unproven. OpenAI’s Jalapeño Chip Could Change the AI Hardware Race
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI capacity is converting into cash more slowly than expected. Fulfilling the backlog requires a historically large data-center buildout, while rising memory and server costs are increasing pressure on capital spending and near-term margins. Microsoft’s AI Capacity Is Selling – But Cash Conversion Is Lagging
• Negative Sentiment: Critics say Microsoft provides insufficient disclosure on AI revenue, costs and capital allocation, making it difficult to assess returns on its AI investments. A slightly hotter-than-expected core PCE reading also creates a broader valuation headwind for richly valued technology shares. Microsoft Is Leaving Investors Flying Blind on Its AI Businesses

Microsoft Company Profile

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).