Cozad Asset Management Inc. Has $10.09 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cozad Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 52.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,869 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 29,325 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.0% of Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,087,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,035,987,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given 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 target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5%

MSFT stock opened at $507.97 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $509.95 and its 200-day moving average is $450.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.