Cumberland Partners Ltd Reduces Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cumberland Partners Ltd decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 175,267 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 5,100 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 5.1% of Cumberland Partners Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $65,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,035,987,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $495.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $509.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $450.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $612.54.

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.