Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Cypress Capital Group's 3rd Largest Position

Key Points

• Cypress Capital Group trimmed its Microsoft stake by 2.4% in the first quarter but still held 82,840 shares worth approximately $30.7 million, making Microsoft its third-largest position. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the stock.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive, with 42 analysts rating Microsoft a Buy and five assigning a Hold rating. The stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.16.
• Microsoft beat quarterly expectations with earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $90.01 billion, while revenue rose 17.7% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, although insiders sold $17.8 million of stock over the past three months.

Cypress Capital Group trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,840 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,027 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.4% of Cypress Capital Group's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Cypress Capital Group's holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Arete Research raised their target price on Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $559.16.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock worth $17,775,330 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $503.81 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business's 50 day moving average is $407.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $407.37. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 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 business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings showed stronger-than-expected profitability and revenue, with Azure growth and Copilot adoption reinforcing the view that substantial AI investment is beginning to generate returns. Hedge funds and institutional investors continue to favor Microsoft over some other mega-cap technology names. Hedge Funds Favor Microsoft Over Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target to $660 and maintained an Outperform rating, arguing that Microsoft’s data-center expansion is measured, flexible, and supported by durable cloud demand. Other analysts also identified Azure growth, backlog, and institutional buying as potential catalysts for a year-end rally. Bernstein Raises Microsoft Target
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may unveil its Maia 300 AI chip as early as September and secure production capacity for more than 300,000 units could reduce reliance on Nvidia processors, lower long-term AI costs, and support Microsoft’s cloud strategy. Microsoft Maia 300 Chip Report

Microsoft Company 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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