Centaurus Financial Inc. Purchases 73,120 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Centaurus Financial acquired 73,120 Microsoft shares worth approximately $27.3 million, making Microsoft 1.1% of the fund’s portfolio and its 20th-largest holding.
• Microsoft reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue; revenue increased 17.7% year over year. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the stock.
• Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, while analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $592.15 price target.

Centaurus Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 73,120 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $27,275,000. Microsoft makes up 1.1% of Centaurus Financial Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $27,338,370,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $18,306,443,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,928,664,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $5,653,812,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $4,000,706,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $532.95 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $507.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $444.58. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The business's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their position. The sale 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, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Argus decreased their price target on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Yorkville Ives initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $615.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $440.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $592.15.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expectations are building for another earnings beat, with demand for Azure cloud infrastructure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot supporting revenue and earnings growth. The key catalyst will be Microsoft’s October 28 report, where investors will look for accelerating Azure growth and evidence that AI investments are translating into monetization. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft remains viewed favorably as a relatively cash-generative way to participate in the AI-cloud buildout. While Oracle’s cloud growth is faster, Microsoft’s stronger free cash flow, lower leverage and broad enterprise installed base may provide greater financial resilience as AI capital expenditures rise. Oracle Versus Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: A new Boeing fleet-intelligence platform, Dataliner, is being built on Microsoft Azure AI Foundry. The partnership could add a recurring enterprise workload for Azure and demonstrate Microsoft’s ability to embed AI in industry-specific applications. Boeing and Microsoft Dataliner
• Positive Sentiment: Tavant’s Microsoft Fabric accelerator is now available through Microsoft Marketplace, potentially making it easier for businesses to deploy Fabric-based analytics and AI solutions across Azure. Tavant Fabric Accelerator
• Neutral Sentiment: GitHub Copilot is reportedly a major customer of Anthropic, highlighting demand for Microsoft’s AI developer tools but also exposing reliance on outside model providers and potential supplier concentration risk. Anthropic Revenue Concentration
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s withdrawal as anchor tenant from a U.K. AI data-center project because of power-supply delays underscores a growing constraint: electricity and grid access may slow Azure’s AI capacity expansion and increase infrastructure costs. Microsoft Withdraws From UK AI Data Center Project
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that elevated prices for components could make Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, less competitive or pressure demand. The gaming business is also undergoing restructuring, adding uncertainty beyond Azure and productivity software. Project Helix Pricing Concerns

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ: MSFT is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company's principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.

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