Cogent Strategic Wealth LLC Acquires 1,685 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cogent Strategic Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 139.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,892 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,685 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.1% of Cogent Strategic Wealth LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Cogent Strategic Wealth LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reported fiscal Q4 revenue of approximately $90.0 billion, up 18% year over year and above the $87.6 billion consensus estimate. Adjusted earnings of $4.74 per share also exceeded expectations of $4.21, marking the company’s 14th consecutive “double beat.” Microsoft Q4 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Azure revenue grew 43%, exceeding analysts’ expectations of roughly 40%, and the cloud platform surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue. The results eased concerns that Microsoft’s AI infrastructure investments may be outpacing customer demand. Microsoft Tops Quarterly Cloud Growth Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft said Microsoft 365 Copilot reached 30 million paid seats, providing evidence of growing monetization for its AI products. The company also recorded a $3.2 billion gain from its Anthropic investment, although returns from its OpenAI investment were more mixed. Azure Crosses $100 Billion in Annual Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft maintained its AI capital-expenditure outlook rather than following Alphabet’s recent increase. Investors viewed the spending discipline as supportive of margins and free cash flow, while first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue guidance of $89.9 billion to $91.0 billion was slightly above consensus. Microsoft Keeps Capex Forecast Unchanged
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors had positioned for an unusually large post-earnings move, with options implying roughly a 6% to 7% swing. This elevated volatility reflects the importance of Microsoft’s results to the broader AI investment theme.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft faces a U.K. regulatory investigation into whether customers were misled about Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscription pricing. The probe creates potential reputational and compliance risks, though its near-term financial impact is unclear. UK Regulator Investigates Microsoft Over 365 Subscriptions
• Negative Sentiment: Disney’s decision to replace GitHub Copilot with OpenAI’s Codex highlights intensifying competition in AI coding tools. Multiple shareholder lawsuits concerning alleged Copilot and Azure disclosures also remain an overhang.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $390.54 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $396.43 and a 200-day moving average of $405.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. CLSA reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $554.73.

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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