Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by City National Bank of Florida MSD

Key Points

• City National Bank of Florida MSD increased its Microsoft stake by 58.5% in the second quarter, holding 14,629 shares worth approximately $5.46 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analysts remain bullish, with 42 Buy ratings and five Holds contributing to a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $564.27. Microsoft also exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue, up 17.7% year over year.
• Microsoft’s cloud and AI growth is strengthening its outlook, but investors are monitoring rising AI infrastructure costs, declining cloud margins and recent insider stock sales. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, representing a 0.7% yield.

City National Bank of Florida MSD boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,629 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 5,398 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.3% of City National Bank of Florida MSD's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. City National Bank of Florida MSD's holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the second quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 10,319 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,849,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Five Oceans Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Five Oceans Advisors now owns 11,239 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV now owns 13,520 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,195,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Sherry Group Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $233,000. Finally, Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp now owns 10,704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,204,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $564.27.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $499.70 on Monday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $444.52 and its 200 day moving average is $415.90. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The company's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 105,835 shares of company stock worth $52,468,575. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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