Cynosure Group LLC Sells 861 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Cynosure Group LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft by 8.6%, holding 9,110 shares valued at approximately $3.42 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• Microsoft's recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting earnings of $3.65 per share on revenues of $76.44 billion, surpassing consensus estimates.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83, with an annualized yield of 0.7%, and has a dividend payout ratio of 24.34%.

Cynosure Group LLC trimmed its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,110 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 861 shares during the quarter. Cynosure Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Intellus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,075,000. Finally, Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 54,910 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,014 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $650.00 price target (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock traded up $3.20 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $498.20. 16,724,087 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,521,180. The company's fifty day moving average is $509.95 and its 200-day moving average is $451.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.52, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.