Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Raised by Venturi Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its Microsoft stake by 6.8% in Q4 to 115,205 shares (about $55.7M), making MSFT ~2.5% of its portfolio and its 8th-largest holding.
• Other major institutions also increased positions—Vanguard, State Street, Geode and Northern Trust added shares while Norges Bank opened a large new position—leaving roughly 71.13% of MSFT owned by institutional investors.
• Market sentiment is mixed: the end of Microsoft’s OpenAI exclusivity and OpenAI models appearing on Amazon Bedrock have raised competition concerns and some analysts cut targets, but Accenture’s planned Copilot rollout and new AI/data‑center deals support Azure growth; Microsoft reports fiscal Q3 earnings soon and declared a $0.91 quarterly dividend.

Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 115,205 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 7,332 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.5% of Venturi Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Venturi Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $55,715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,714,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains broadly constructive — several firms reaffirmed buy/outperform ratings and some raised price targets, suggesting analysts expect MSFT to regain momentum after the partnership news. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Large enterprise demand for Copilot is visible: Accenture will roll Copilot out to ~743,000 employees, a material commercial win that supports recurring SaaS revenue and Azure usage. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to secure big AI/data‑center contracts with hyperscalers and operators (long‑term deals that drive Azure and data‑center demand), supporting the multi‑year cloud/capex story. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: MSFT is reporting fiscal Q3 earnings after the close amid a concentrated "Mag‑7" earnings day — results (Azure growth, Copilot seats, capex commentary) could swing sentiment either way. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and previews highlight the specific metrics investors are watching (Azure growth, Copilot monetization, and AI capex) — earnings could validate the recovery narrative or keep pressure on valuation. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Operational hiccups (Outlook sign‑in outages) are being monitored but are unlikely to change fundamentals unless persistent. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: The market reacted to OpenAI’s revised deal: Microsoft’s exclusive license was removed and revenue‑share terms were changed — this raised competition risk for Azure and prompted an intra‑day pullback. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI models are being made available on Amazon Bedrock (preview), increasing cloud competition for AI workloads and potentially reducing Azure’s exclusivity premium. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Some brokers cut targets or trimmed upside after the partnership change and amid capex/margin concerns, which can weigh on sentiment until the earnings print provides clarity. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal risks persist (Slack antitrust suit in the UK over Teams bundling; OpenAI‑related litigation) — they add event risk that could pressure multiples if escalated. Read More.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $429.25 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The business's 50 day moving average is $394.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $448.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $515.00 price target (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $563.72.

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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