Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Newly Bought by Palidye Holdings Caymans Ltd

Palidye Holdings Caymans Ltd purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 308,485 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $115,071,000. Microsoft makes up about 20.6% of Palidye Holdings Caymans Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $248,398,000. Barbara Oil Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $8,702,000. Saranac Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $12,339,000. Solstein Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,522,000. Finally, Jericho Financial LLP bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,740,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, August 10th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $589.71.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $10.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $529.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 24,810,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,057,592. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.46, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.10. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $505.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $440.59. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company 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 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

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 Company Profile

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.