HB Wealth Management LLC Acquires 11,116 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• HB Wealth Management LLC increased its Microsoft stake by 2.1% in the first quarter, buying 11,116 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 540,626 shares worth about $200.1 million.
• Microsoft remains a favorite with institutional investors and analysts, with 71.13% of shares owned by institutions and Wall Street maintaining a consensus Moderate Buy rating despite some lowered price targets.
• The company continues to show strong fundamentals and AI momentum, including a better-than-expected quarterly earnings report, a new quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, and positive news around AI leadership and partnerships such as the deal with 3M.

HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 540,626 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 11,116 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.3% of HB Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $200,124,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly bullish ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report, with several firms still rating the stock Buy/Outperform even after trimming price targets. Microsoft Earnings Preview: Copilot, AI Spending and Margins Are in Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is being viewed as a top AI vendor, and Citi highlighted it as one of the leading players in the space, reinforcing the company’s AI leadership narrative. Citi Finds Microsoft (MSFT) as One of the Top AI Vendors
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with 3M to advance AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation, a sign of continued demand for its cloud and AI ecosystem. 3M and Microsoft announce strategic partnership to advance AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella’s push to emphasize Microsoft’s in-house AI models and lower-cost enterprise offerings suggests a more aggressive competitive strategy versus OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Microsoft is reportedly training salespeople to talk down OpenAI and Anthropic

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $401.10 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The business's 50-day moving average price is $400.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $411.43.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Citigroup raised Microsoft from a "market outperform" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $557.96.

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).

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