Cannell & Spears LLC Sells 90,734 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Cannell & Spears LLC reduced its Microsoft stake by 12.1%, selling 90,734 shares and retaining 656,452 shares valued at approximately $240 million. Microsoft remains the firm’s largest portfolio holding, representing 4.8% of its investments.
• Microsoft reported a strong quarter, with earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $90.01 billion, exceeding analyst expectations while revenue grew 17.7% year over year. Analysts maintain a generally bullish outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $559.16 price target.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, equivalent to an annualized $3.64 and a 0.7% yield. Microsoft insiders also reported selling shares recently, including sales by CEO Judson Althoff and EVP Takeshi Numoto.

Cannell & Spears LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 656,452 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 90,734 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.8% of Cannell & Spears LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Cannell & Spears LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $240,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $506.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.18, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $405.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $406.95. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. President Capital upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, DZ Bank reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $559.16.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Maia 300 chip plans support the rally: Reports say Microsoft could unveil its Maia 300 AI accelerator as early as September and secure capacity for more than 300,000 chips by 2027, with longer-term ambitions exceeding one million units. The effort could reduce Microsoft’s dependence on Nvidia, lower AI-computing costs and potentially attract customers such as Anthropic. Microsoft plans to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts see measured AI investment and further upside: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target from $647 to $660, arguing that the company is not building data-center capacity too aggressively. The firm said new infrastructure would remain useful for Azure even if AI demand moderated. Microsoft's Datacenter Spending Is Disciplined
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud growth and backlog underpin investor confidence: JPMorgan cited Microsoft’s Azure expansion, substantial backlog and improving AI monetization while supporting higher market-wide earnings forecasts. Other bullish commentary points to strong recent results, including reported Azure growth and broad Copilot adoption. Microsoft Stock Rises as JPMorgan Backs AI Payoff
• Positive Sentiment: Capital returns add support: Microsoft’s large-scale dividends and share repurchases reinforce its position as a cash-generating technology leader, although investors are also evaluating how much capital is being redirected toward AI infrastructure. Microsoft Stock Runs One of the Market's Biggest Cash-Return Machines
• Neutral Sentiment: AI opportunity comes with execution risks: Analysts continue debating whether megacap AI spending will generate adequate cash flow. Separately, reports of AI models reaching real-world systems could increase scrutiny of Microsoft’s autonomous-agent products and enterprise security controls.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal notices remain an overhang: Investor-rights firms are promoting a securities class action involving purchases made between May 1, 2025, and January 28, 2026, with an August 11 lead-plaintiff deadline. The notices do not establish liability but could add reputational and litigation risk.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% 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 Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

About Microsoft

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).

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