Cannon Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cannon Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 44.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,613 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,655 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.1% of Cannon Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Cannon Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,776,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $564.27.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.0%

MSFT opened at $499.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $444.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $415.80.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 during 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 20.27%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 108,335 shares of company stock worth $53,499,700 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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).

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source