Cynosure Group LLC Acquires 8,123 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cynosure Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 89.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,233 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,123 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.0% of Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Seek First Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Level Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major industry and healthcare partnerships bolster MSFT’s commercial AI narrative — Bristol Myers Squibb will use Microsoft’s AI radiology tools to speed lung cancer detection, a commercial validation for Azure/AI revenue mix. Bristol Myers partners with Microsoft for AI-driven lung cancer detection
• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise product integration: Board announced Board Agents built on Microsoft Foundry, signaling more platform-level demand for Azure agentic AI services. Board Collaborates with Microsoft to Bring Agentic AI Into the Core of Enterprise Planning
• Positive Sentiment: Marketplace and ISV ecosystem wins continue to expand commercial reach (Cobalt Teams integration, RKON Marketplace activity), supporting recurring revenue and GTM leverage. Cobalt Microsoft® Teams® Integration Now Available in the Microsoft Marketplace®
• Positive Sentiment: Top analysts still see long-term upside — Goldman Sachs reiterated Buy and keeps a high price target, reflecting belief that AI + cloud growth offsets higher power/capex. Microsoft: Maintaining a Buy Rating as AI and Cloud Growth Offset Structurally Higher Power Costs
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen trimmed its price target (from $655 to $625) but kept a Buy rating, noting Azure capacity constraints that may keep the stock range-bound before earnings. TD Cowen Sees Microsoft (MSFT) Shares Range-Bound Ahead of Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on MSFT’s upcoming earnings report on Jan. 28 — expectations are elevated, so results and commentary on Azure capacity/costs will likely drive near-term volatility. Dear Microsoft Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for January 28
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades/price-target cuts are weighing on sentiment — Rothschild & Co Redburn cut its PT to $450 and moved to Neutral, tightening near-term upside assumptions. Rothschild & Co Redburn adjusts price target on Microsoft to 450 from 500, maintains neutral rating
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella’s public warnings that AI could “lose social permission” if it burns energy without real-world benefits have raised regulatory/PR risk and highlighted rising energy/capex pressures for hyperscalers. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Warns AI Could Lose ‘Social Permission’ If It Burns Energy Without Real-World Benefits In Health And Education
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Azure growth and forward guidance previously fell short of expectations — plus capacity constraints — are pressuring near-term growth multiple assumptions. Microsoft (MSFT) Traded Lower as Its Reported Azure Cloud Growth and Forward Guidance Fell Short of Expectations

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Guggenheim set a $675.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $624.05.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $444.11 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50 day moving average is $480.62 and its 200 day moving average is $501.75.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.89%.

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).