Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. Has $1.34 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. decreased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 70.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,602 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 8,469 shares during the period. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley identified a bullish technical signal across several megacap technology stocks, including Microsoft, potentially supporting further gains as institutional positioning improves. A Bullish Signal Could Point to Gains Ahead for These Big Tech Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s roughly $678 billion Azure backlog gives investors greater visibility into future cloud and AI revenue, helping counter fears that hyperscalers may struggle to earn adequate returns on AI infrastructure spending. Microsoft Stock Rises as $678 Billion Backlog Supports AI Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s internally developed AI chips are reported to deliver efficiency gains of up to 40% versus reliance on OpenAI-related infrastructure. Greater use of its own technology could improve capacity, margins and control over the AI stack. Microsoft’s Own AI Chips Are Driving Efficiency Gains
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to highlight Azure’s more-than-$100 billion annual revenue milestone, accelerating Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption and Microsoft’s ability to monetize AI through its broad enterprise software base.
• Positive Sentiment: New Azure and Microsoft Marketplace integrations, including Dirac’s AI process-planning platform and other enterprise applications, reinforce demand for Microsoft’s cloud ecosystem. An investment manager also maintained exposure to Microsoft, while Altarock Partners increased its stake. Dirac Brings AI-Driven Process Planning to Microsoft Azure
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is changing its AI data-center policy by reducing nondisclosure requirements and emphasizing community engagement. The approach may ease regulatory and local opposition, but could increase transparency and complicate facility expansion.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that heavy AI capital expenditures may outpace revenue and cash-flow returns. A separate comparison argued Oracle currently offers stronger AI backlog growth and valuation, potentially making Microsoft less attractive to some buyers.
• Negative Sentiment: Beijing is reportedly accelerating the replacement of Microsoft Windows in Chinese government systems, creating a geopolitical and regional-sales headwind. The departure of Microsoft AI’s chief marketing officer also introduces some execution uncertainty around consumer AI adoption.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $484.31 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $415.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $408.42. The company has a market cap of $3.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.97, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. President Capital boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.27.

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).