Capital Management Associates Inc Acquires 2,808 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Capital Management Associates increased its Microsoft position by 27.2%, purchasing 2,808 shares to hold 13,123 shares valued at approximately $4.9 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 42 Buy ratings and five Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $564.27.
• Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.7% year over year, and earnings of $4.74 per share, beating estimates. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98, while executives sold shares worth about $71.4 million during the quarter.

Capital Management Associates Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 27.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,123 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,808 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.0% of Capital Management Associates Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Capital Management Associates Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Partners in Financial Planning grew its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Partners in Financial Planning now owns 2,593 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,254,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 8,368 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Skylands Capital LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 645 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial raised its holdings in Microsoft by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 431 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Sequent Planning LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the first quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 3,733 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,382,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. 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 note on Tuesday, September 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Forty-two 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 has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $564.27.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure and AI businesses remain the primary bullish catalysts. Analysts point to accelerating cloud growth, broad enterprise adoption and Microsoft’s distribution advantage through Azure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot. These Magnificent Seven Members Still Look Cheap
• Positive Sentiment: Causaly expanded its collaboration with Microsoft, making its agentic scientific-research tools available within Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft 365 and Teams. The deal supports Microsoft’s strategy of adding specialized AI workflows to its enterprise software ecosystem. Causaly is Now Available in Microsoft Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 8% quarterly dividend increase reinforces its strong cash generation and provides shareholder support, although the company continues to invest heavily in cloud and AI infrastructure. Microsoft Slips as Its Quarterly Dividend Climbs 8%
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman called recent reports of concerning model behavior at OpenAI a “serious situation” and emphasized the need for controllable, human-aligned AI. The comments highlight Microsoft’s safety focus but also underscore reputational and product-liability risks across the sector. OpenAI's latest AI revelation is a serious situation
• Negative Sentiment: Unsealed filings reportedly include Microsoft and OpenAI employees’ concerns that AI training on millions of news articles could amount to the “largest theft of labor in human history.” The disclosures may weaken the companies’ fair-use defense and increase potential litigation, licensing and regulatory costs. OpenAI, Microsoft executives' quotes on AI training threaten copyright defense
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of insider selling added to near-term sentiment pressure, while Microsoft faces competitive challenges from Salesforce’s AIforce and ongoing debate over whether its substantial AI spending will generate adequate returns. Microsoft Trading Down After Insider Selling

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $493.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $466.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $422.77. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

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