Cynosure Group LLC Sells 2,302 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cynosure Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,931 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,302 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.3% of Cynosure Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched a new AI agent with pay-as-you-go pricing, a shift that could improve monetization and help the company capture more revenue as customers adopt usage-based AI tools.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Microsoft is exploring lower-cost AI model options for Copilot, which could reduce infrastructure costs and improve profitability if implemented successfully.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s product and AI roadmap continues to attract long-term bulls, with analysts and investors still pointing to the company’s strong enterprise position and AI-driven growth potential.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft was reported to have held talks for a $3 billion Oracle cloud infrastructure lease, but the deal reportedly collapsed over security and compliance issues, limiting any near-term impact on operations.
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around a possible Xbox restructuring or spin-off highlights strategic uncertainty in gaming, though it could eventually improve Microsoft’s overall margin profile if the division is separated or reshaped.
• Negative Sentiment: Shareholders filed a class action and securities-fraud investigations were announced over alleged misstatements tied to Azure growth and AI spending, creating legal and reputational overhang for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT).
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may shut down or restructure Xbox studios add to concerns that the gaming segment is a drag on profitability and could require more restructuring costs.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent commentary also points to heavy AI capital expenditures and softer Azure growth, reinforcing investor worries that Microsoft’s spending is rising faster than its cloud revenue growth.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $393.83 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $356.28 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $412.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $427.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.20.

About Microsoft

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).