Orographic Financial Advisors LLC Takes $5.73 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Orographic Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,477 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $5,729,000. Microsoft makes up about 4.1% of Orographic Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Markel Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $199,014,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 8.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after acquiring an additional 537,634 shares during the period. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 138.8% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $502,077,000 after purchasing an additional 788,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Dbs Bank lowered their target price on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.27.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to highlight Microsoft’s Azure expansion, accelerating Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, and the company’s ability to sustain double-digit earnings growth. Microsoft’s latest quarter also exceeded expectations, with revenue of approximately $90 billion and earnings growth supported by Azure. Microsoft’s Cloud Gains Can Sustain Double-Digit Earnings Growth
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its Microsoft price target to $625, citing stronger Copilot demand and accelerating infrastructure investment. Other analysts remain bullish, with a six-month median target near $540, reinforcing investor confidence in Microsoft’s long-term AI positioning. JPMorgan Raises Microsoft Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is combining its consumer and enterprise Copilot applications into a unified platform, potentially improving distribution, user engagement, and monetization as it competes with ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Microsoft Unifies Copilot Applications
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft approved the first AI data-center deployment under its $9.7 billion agreement with IREN, supporting Azure capacity expansion. The deal improves supply visibility but also underscores Microsoft’s substantial capital requirements. IREN Delivers First AI Cloud Deployment
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s roughly $175 billion AI infrastructure spending plan could pressure free cash flow and cloud margins. A reported decline in cloud gross margin and higher data-center, chip, electricity, and labor costs raise questions about how much of the company’s large AI backlog will translate into profit. Microsoft’s AI Backlog and Profitability Concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft has closed at least 15 China offices and joint ventures add geopolitical and operational uncertainty, although Azure reportedly provides a profitable reason to retain a limited China presence. Microsoft Retreats in China

Microsoft Stock Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $495.40 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $411.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $408.50. 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 $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.58, a PEG ratio of 1.60 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 19.58 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% 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, 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 transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft 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).