Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Smith Salley Wealth Management’s 3rd Largest Position

Smith Salley Wealth Management grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 241,109 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,778 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.5% of Smith Salley Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $89,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to secure new enterprise AI and cloud partnerships, including expanded collaborations around Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure, which support its long-term AI monetization story.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 20-year power agreement tied to its Texas data-center buildout helps de-risk AI infrastructure expansion and supports cloud capacity growth.
• Positive Sentiment: ICON plc selected Microsoft as a preferred technology partner, reinforcing demand for Microsoft’s AI and productivity tools in healthcare and enterprise workflows.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators remain split: some still view Microsoft as a high-quality AI platform with strong long-term upside, while others say the stock has been oversold and may be approaching a valuation reset.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft was also named in multiple new or ongoing lawsuits and class-action notices tied to alleged securities issues and copyright claims involving AI training data, adding headline risk but no immediate operating impact yet.
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel cut its price target on Microsoft and said Wall Street’s gross-margin expectations may be too high as Azure growth and AI capex pressure cloud profitability.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s Xbox price hikes and repeated gaming price increases suggest hardware cost inflation is squeezing a business line that had already been weakening.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern over heavy AI spending, shrinking free cash flow, and lower cloud-margin expectations is weighing on sentiment and helping explain why MSFT is falling.
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulators said Microsoft Azure may face stricter “gatekeeper” rules under the Digital Markets Act, raising the possibility of more compliance burden and oversight in Europe.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s quantum-computing claims also came under renewed criticism, which adds to skepticism around some of its more speculative AI-related initiatives.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $550.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 1st. They set a “market outperform” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price objective for the company. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.86.

Microsoft Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of MSFT opened at $352.83 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $411.13 and its 200 day moving average is $421.81. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

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).