Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Key Points

• Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its Microsoft stake by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, buying 5,065 additional shares and bringing its holding to 170,254 shares worth about $82.3 million.
• Microsoft continues to draw support from AI-related catalysts, including reported talks with Anthropic over Maia chips, ChatGPT integration into PowerPoint, and a $1 billion partnership with EY to promote corporate AI adoption.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while analysts remain largely bullish with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and a price target around $560.88.

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 170,254 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 5,065 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.0% of Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $82,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly deepening its AI strategy through talks with Anthropic over use of its Maia AI chips, which could expand demand for Microsoft’s custom silicon and strengthen its position in AI infrastructure. Anthropic in talks to use Microsoft's AI chips, The Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s reported integration of ChatGPT into Microsoft PowerPoint highlights tighter product tie-ins that could boost adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot and broader enterprise AI usage. ChatGPT Lands in Microsoft PowerPoint
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and EY announced a $1 billion partnership to accelerate corporate AI adoption, reinforcing expectations that Microsoft can monetize AI across large enterprise customers. Microsoft and EY Team to Promote Corporate AI Adoption
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles and analyst notes framed MSFT as an undervalued momentum name with AI catalysts building, including RBC reiterating a buy rating, which may be supporting shares. Microsoft had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Royal Bank Of Canada
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is undergoing an internal AI-era leadership reset, including the planned departure of longtime executive Yusuf Mehdi, which signals strategic change but also adds some organizational uncertainty. Microsoft veteran executive Yusuf Mehdi is leaving after the next fiscal year
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage focused on Microsoft’s GitHub outages and higher AI operating costs, raising questions about execution, infrastructure strain, and whether AI usage is becoming too expensive to scale smoothly. Microsoft's GitHub was positioned to win the AI coding race. Outages got in the way
• Negative Sentiment: The Gates Foundation’s sale of its remaining Microsoft stake was a headline overhang, though it appears more like portfolio rebalancing than a direct read on Microsoft’s fundamentals. The Gates Foundation Sold All of Its Remaining Microsoft Stock. Should Investors Be Worried?

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $418.57 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $399.38 and a 200-day moving average of $436.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.91, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 24th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $500.00 price target for the company. Mizuho cut their price target on Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. DA Davidson cut their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $560.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Company 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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