Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Center for Financial Planning Inc.

Key Points

• Center for Financial Planning increased its Microsoft holdings by 10.8% in the first quarter, bringing its position to 26,463 shares valued at approximately $9.8 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of MSFT.
• Microsoft recently reported stronger-than-expected results, with quarterly revenue up 18.3% year over year to $82.89 billion and earnings of $4.27 per share. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 42 Buy ratings and six Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $554.73. Meanwhile, insiders sold 23,762 shares worth $10.5 million over the past 90 days.

Center for Financial Planning Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,463 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,577 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.0% of Center for Financial Planning Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Center for Financial Planning Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its first in-house cybersecurity AI model, MAI-Cyber-1-Flash, along with Project Perception, an agentic platform designed to detect and respond to AI-powered attacks. The products could strengthen Microsoft’s enterprise security position and create additional demand for Azure and security services. Microsoft launches AI cybersecurity model and defense platform
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remained bullish ahead of earnings. Citizens JMP reaffirmed a Market Outperform rating with a $550 target, while Piper Sandler maintained an Overweight rating and a $540 target—well above Microsoft’s recent trading range. Microsoft stock moves higher
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanding partnerships and integrations across Azure, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot support the argument that its broad enterprise ecosystem can monetize AI spending over time. Morgan Stanley estimates major technology companies could achieve 25%–50% returns on AI investments. AI capital expenditure plans

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of MSFT opened at $393.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The stock's 50 day moving average is $397.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $406.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. China Renaissance decreased their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 6th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $554.73.

Microsoft 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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