Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. Sells 15,021 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 18.9%, selling 15,021 shares, leaving them with 64,306 shares, which represents 5.8% of their investment portfolio.
• Microsoft's latest quarterly earnings beat expectations, reporting $3.65 EPS and revenue of $76.44 billion, up 18.1% year-over-year.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, which will be paid on December 11th, representing a dividend yield of 0.7%.

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. lessened its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 18.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 64,306 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 15,021 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.8% of Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $31,986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $32,000. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $511.46 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $512.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $463.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $614.45.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.

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