Concord Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 30,114 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Concord Investment Counsel acquired 30,114 Microsoft shares worth approximately $10.7 million, making the stock 2.9% of its portfolio. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $581.24. Microsoft recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $4.74 EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue.
• Microsoft increased its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, or $3.92 annually, while insiders have sold approximately $75.4 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Concord Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 30,114 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $10,742,000. Microsoft makes up 2.9% of Concord Investment Counsel Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Korea Investment CORP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,873,752,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $350,329,000. Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $10,934,000. M1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,062,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $12,688,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, August 10th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $581.24.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $533.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The business's fifty day moving average price is $504.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $438.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.72, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a 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 business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade 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 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 300 custom AI accelerator, designed for multi-gigawatt deployment across Azure data centers. Management says it can deliver 40% more tokens per megawatt than a GPU-based system, potentially lowering inference costs and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD hardware. What Could Microsoft Gain From Its Maia 300 AI Chip Rollout?
• Positive Sentiment: Investor optimism remains focused on Azure growth, Microsoft’s AI backlog, and more than $130 billion in reported data-center leases. The scale of commitments supports long-term demand for Azure and Copilot, although it also raises capital-spending risks. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects the upcoming fiscal first-quarter report to show improving differentiation in software. Earnings are scheduled for October 28. Microsoft Price Target Raised by Barclays
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure chief reportedly seeks at least 20% cost cuts in an effort to offset soaring AI data-center expenses. The move could improve efficiency and margins, but it also highlights pressure from the company’s aggressive investment cycle. Microsoft Weighs 20% Cost Cuts in Azure
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is introducing new AI-enabled Surface devices and an Xbox Nano Controller, supporting its broader push to put generative AI into consumer hardware. These products are strategically relevant but are unlikely to materially affect near-term results.
• Negative Sentiment: Hot inflation data pushed bond yields higher and triggered a broad selloff in AI-related shares, increasing concern that expensive AI infrastructure projects may face higher financing costs and tougher valuation scrutiny.
• Negative Sentiment: Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft to “hold,” while Erste Group made a minor reduction to its FY2028 earnings forecast. These actions add to near-term caution following the stock’s strong run.
• Negative Sentiment: EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares worth approximately $4.0 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Because the sale was scheduled in advance and represents only 1.3% of her holdings, it is a limited bearish signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft issued security updates addressing more than 1,400 vulnerabilities could renew concerns about cybersecurity exposure, though patching the flaws is ultimately protective.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft's productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

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