Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s 8th Largest Position

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 51,587 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 5,609 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.2% of Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,042,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.0%

MSFT opened at $499.70 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $444.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $415.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 108,335 shares of company stock valued at $53,499,700. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $510.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $564.27.

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).