Cooper Financial Group Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cooper Financial Group grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 58,374 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 742 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.4% of Cooper Financial Group’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $29,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Newton One Investments LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $513.58 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $511.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $476.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.65, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $618.97.

Microsoft 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.