Canoe Financial LP Has $173.79 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Canoe Financial LP reduced its Microsoft stake by 9.2% in the second quarter, selling 47,440 shares. It still held 465,891 shares worth approximately $173.79 million, representing 2.2% of its portfolio.
• Microsoft reported quarterly earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $90.01 billion, exceeding analyst expectations; revenue increased 17.7% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive, with 42 analysts rating Microsoft a Buy and five rating it Hold; the average price target is $564.27. However, insiders sold more than $52.4 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Canoe Financial LP lessened its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 465,891 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 47,440 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.2% of Canoe Financial LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Canoe Financial LP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $173,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $85,604,000 after purchasing an additional 8,773 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock worth $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 8.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,041,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $499.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $447.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $416.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. CLSA reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $564.27.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, 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 transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 105,835 shares of company stock valued at $52,468,575 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure business reportedly crossed a significant revenue milestone, while its large backlog points to continued demand for cloud and AI services. This is strengthening the long-term bull case and fueling speculation that the stock could approach $600. Microsoft Stock Is Building a Trillion-Dollar AI Opportunity
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia are described as major beneficiaries of a potential $7 trillion AI infrastructure buildout. Rising data-center construction and demand for computing capacity could support sustained growth across Azure, software, and AI products. Nvidia, Microsoft at Center of $7 Trillion AI Boom
• Positive Sentiment: Investment commentary continues to favor Microsoft as a long-term holding because of its diversified software ecosystem, recurring revenue, cloud position, and favorable earnings outlook. Its latest reported quarter also showed revenue growth and earnings well above expectations. Why Microsoft Is a Top Stock for the Long-Term
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s partnerships and investments in Gulf data-center infrastructure highlight its efforts to expand global AI capacity. Separately, company representatives said AI could create new employment opportunities rather than only eliminate jobs, supporting broader adoption narratives. Microsoft and Schneider Electric Bet Big on the Gulf
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts are focused on a key cash-flow line item, likely reflecting the impact of elevated AI-related capital expenditures. Strong investment may expand future growth but could constrain free cash flow and delay a breakout to a new high. Microsoft Is Close to a New All-Time High
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, could face a pricing challenge if advanced hardware pushes the console toward $1,000. A high price could limit adoption and pressure the gaming business, although Microsoft is considering affordability measures. Microsoft Has a $1,000 Problem With Its Next Xbox
• Negative Sentiment: Recent Outlook and Exchange Online outages, alongside a separate ChatGPT Work disruption, raise concerns about reliability for Microsoft’s productivity and cloud services. The incidents have not materially undermined reported results but remain a reputational and retention risk. Microsoft’s Outlook and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work Both Broke the Same Day

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).

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