Cohen Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,140 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cohen Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 71,896 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,140 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 5.8% of Cohen Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Cohen Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $37,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 155.7% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $450.93 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $479.57 and its 200-day moving average is $501.40.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Daiwa Capital Markets decreased their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 18th. Finally, Arete Research increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $620.79.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: High-visibility marketing + product partnership — Microsoft announced a multi-year technology and sponsorship deal with the Mercedes‑AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, raising brand exposure for Azure and AI capabilities and signaling enterprise demand for cloud/AI partnerships. Mercedes reveal images, announce Microsoft deal
• Positive Sentiment: Government win — Microsoft landed a roughly $170M Air Force Cloud One task order for Azure through 2028, validating Azure’s government demand and recurring-revenue profile. Defense contracts reduce revenue uncertainty and support cloud backlog visibility. Air Force awards $170M Cloud One contract
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional conviction — Activist/hedge investors (Third Point’s Dan Loeb) increased stakes in Microsoft, signaling belief in MSFT’s AI/cloud growth despite 2025 volatility. That buying can support the stock ahead of earnings. Billionaire investor doubles down on AI, boosts stakes
• Positive Sentiment: Consumer/engagement catalyst — Xbox Developer_Direct presentation lifted sentiment around gaming/content growth and monetization opportunities for Microsoft’s consumer franchises. Xbox Developer_Direct 2026 coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views remain mixed but generally constructive — Several firms reiterated Buy/Overweight ratings (Jefferies, Guggenheim, Wells Fargo) even as price targets were trimmed in places, reflecting confidence in long‑term AI/cloud upside but acknowledgement of near‑term risks. Jefferies buy rating
• Negative Sentiment: Service outage hit — A Microsoft 365/Outlook outage disrupted access to email, files and meetings for thousands of users, creating immediate operational risk for enterprise customers and short‑term headline pressure on trust in cloud reliability. Microsoft 365 outage report
• Negative Sentiment: Margin and earnings concerns — Analysts and commentaries flagged cloud/AI margins as a key “tripwire” into the upcoming fiscal Q2 results; higher data‑center power and capacity costs could pressure near‑term margins if revenue mix doesn’t improve. That is weighing on the stock into earnings. Cloud margins are the tripwire ahead of FQ2
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts/downgrades — A few shops trimmed price targets or signaled range‑bound outlooks (Rothschild, TD Cowen, others), which feeds short‑term selling pressure given MSFT’s recent pullback. Rothschild price target cut

Microsoft Company 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).