WealthShield Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

WealthShield Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,440 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,541 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.4% of WealthShield Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. WealthShield Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Better Money Decisions LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,498 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,740,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined 25 tech companies in urging U.S. policymakers not to impose broad restrictions on open-weight and open-source AI models, a stance that supports its broader AI ecosystem strategy and could help preserve flexibility for future product development. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also backed a coalition letter with Nvidia, Meta, and other firms arguing that open-weight AI is important for U.S. leadership, reinforcing investor confidence that the company remains a major AI platform player rather than being boxed into one model provider. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded Databricks partnership extends a key cloud/data-AI relationship through the 2030s, which should help Azure adoption and strengthen long-term enterprise demand for Microsoft’s cloud services. TipRanks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several previews ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report say the big investor focus will be FY2027 CapEx guidance and Azure growth, with analysts expecting strong results but worrying that AI infrastructure spending could weigh on free cash flow and margins. MarketBeat article
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued class-action alerts and deadline reminders tied to Microsoft securities-fraud claims, including allegations related to Copilot disclosures, which adds headline risk and may keep some investors cautious into earnings. GlobeNewswire article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness tied to AI spending fears also weighed on Microsoft, as investors sold mega-cap names after seeing massive capital outlays across the sector and questioning near-term returns on AI investment. Fox Business article

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $381.70 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $398.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $408.08. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. New Street Research cut their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $555.40.

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).