Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Lord & Richards Wealth Management increased its Microsoft stake by 40.3% in the first quarter, buying 1,573 additional shares and bringing its position to 5,479 shares worth about $2.03 million.
• Other institutional investors also boosted or initiated positions in Microsoft, and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s shares, underscoring continued institutional interest.
• Microsoft remains a mixed story for investors: analysts are still broadly bullish on its long-term outlook, but the stock is under pressure from AI spending concerns, legal scrutiny, layoffs, and antitrust attention in Europe.

Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 40.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,479 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,573 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.8% of Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $2,616,000. PMG Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $828,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2,332.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,262,509,000 after purchasing an additional 6,468,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors raised its stake in Microsoft by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 272,424 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $131,750,000 after purchasing an additional 49,371 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several reports highlighted continued strength in Microsoft’s Azure cloud and AI businesses, with bullish commentary saying demand remains robust and that the recent selloff may be creating a more attractive entry point. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors cited Microsoft’s security business as a potential growth driver, while recent partnership news and product integrations suggest the company is still expanding its enterprise ecosystem. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Some Wall Street coverage remained constructive, with firms such as Deutsche Bank and Erste Group lifting their outlooks, reinforcing the view that Microsoft’s long-term earnings power remains intact. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft also announced product and ecosystem updates, including a new Marketplace listing and broader AI/security-related integrations, which are supportive but not likely to move the stock on their own. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several opinion pieces argued the stock may be oversold and could rebound, but these were largely valuation-driven commentary rather than new fundamental catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is facing renewed scrutiny over AI spending, with multiple stories noting the stock’s sharp June decline as investors worry that massive AI capex is not translating into profits quickly enough. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms and reports flagged securities-fraud class actions tied to alleged misstatements about Copilot and Azure, adding legal uncertainty and potential headline risk. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Additional pressure came from reports of another round of job cuts and from antitrust attention in Europe, both of which can weigh on sentiment even if they help costs over time. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. President Capital increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $560.86.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $373.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.11. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $408.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $419.37. 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 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the 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 directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company 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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