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

Jericho Financial LLP acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 20,750 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $7,740,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.0% of Jericho Financial LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, Glynn Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34.2% during the 2nd quarter. Glynn Capital Management LLC now owns 255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

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 Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $589.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total transaction of $3,984,293.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 555,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $302,924,086.32. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT traded down $10.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $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 cap of $3.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.46, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $505.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $440.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

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.