Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Cornerstone Wealth Management increased its Microsoft stake by 5.5% in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 82,562 shares valued at approximately $30.8 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 42 Buy ratings and five Holds contributing to a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $564.27.
• Microsoft reported quarterly earnings and revenue above expectations, with revenue rising 17.7% year over year, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share. Insiders, however, sold roughly $71.4 million of stock over the past three months.

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 82,562 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 4,270 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.3% of Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,797,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in Microsoft by 30.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock worth $15,426,862,000 after purchasing an additional 9,814,598 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Microsoft by 10.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,852,884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784,809 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,235,785,000 after purchasing an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 64.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,982,083,000 after purchasing an additional 9,493,778 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. 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, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $564.27.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $493.78 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $466.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $422.94.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about 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 Company Profile

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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