Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC Takes $3.79 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC initiated a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter, buying 7,833 shares valued at about $3.79 million. Microsoft now represents roughly 2.4% of the firm’s holdings and is its fifth-largest position.
• Microsoft continues to draw broad institutional support, with 71.13% of shares held by institutional investors, even as some large holders adjusted positions during the quarter. Other recent activity included both modest adds and more aggressive increases across several wealth managers.
• Despite mixed sentiment around AI spending and insider sales, Microsoft’s fundamentals remain solid: the company beat earnings and revenue estimates last quarter, and analysts still assign it a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $561.20.

Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 7,833 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $3,788,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.4% of Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC now owns 175,515 shares of the software giant's stock worth $84,883,000 after acquiring an additional 1,131 shares in the last quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,615 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,199,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the period. Nan Fung Trinity HK Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 49.8% during the fourth quarter. Nan Fung Trinity HK Ltd. now owns 65,192 shares of the software giant's stock worth $31,528,000 after buying an additional 21,680 shares in the last quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 88,327 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,717,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frontier Asset Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 172.1% in the 4th quarter. Frontier Asset Management LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $868,000 after buying an additional 1,136 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Build announcements suggest it is broadening its AI platform with proprietary models and agentic tools, which could reduce reliance on OpenAI and improve margins over time.
• Positive Sentiment: New partnerships and integrations with Nvidia, healthcare groups like Mayo Clinic, and third-party enterprise tools expand Microsoft’s ecosystem and may support future cloud demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and investor commentary remains constructive, with several reports arguing that Microsoft’s AI opportunity and Azure growth still look underappreciated. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s quantum-computing update and AI infrastructure ambitions are long-term catalysts, but they are not expected to contribute meaningfully to near-term earnings. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors appear to be taking profits after the Build rally and remain cautious about Microsoft’s heavy AI spending and execution risk.
• Negative Sentiment: Judson Althoff’s disclosed share sale may add to short-term sentiment pressure, even though the transaction was relatively small compared with his remaining holdings. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Dbs Bank reduced their price target on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Forty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Microsoft Stock Down 3.2%

MSFT stock opened at $427.34 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $405.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $432.76. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,083 shares of company stock valued at $12,710,152. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).

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