Venturi Wealth Management LLC Purchases 6,545 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its Microsoft stake by 5.7% in the first quarter, buying 6,545 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 121,750 shares valued at about $45.1 million.
• Microsoft reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 versus $4.06 expected and revenue of $82.89 billion, up 18.3% year over year.
• The company remains in the spotlight for its AI strategy, including a new $2.5 billion enterprise AI deployment initiative, even as shares have been pressured by weak recent stock performance and concerns about heavy AI spending.

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,750 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 6,545 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.0% of Venturi Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Venturi Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $45,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $390.49 on Friday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $406.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $417.86. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. The company'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 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched a new AI deployment business, Microsoft Frontier Company, backed by $2.5 billion and staffed with about 6,000 engineers and industry experts to help enterprises select, implement, and improve AI tools. Investors are viewing this as a way to accelerate Azure and Copilot adoption while monetizing the enterprise AI buildout. Microsoft launches its own AI deployment company with $2.5 billion commitment
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Microsoft as a top AI and growth stock, while others said the market is rotating from semiconductors back toward software. That is helping sentiment around MSFT as investors look for higher-quality AI beneficiaries with recurring enterprise revenue. Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also reported to be overhauling Copilot to make its AI assistant more useful and easier to justify for customers. That could improve adoption, but it also underscores that AI products must now prove their value. Microsoft’s Copilot Reset Shows AI Tools Must Now Prove Their Worth
• Neutral Sentiment: There was also a new undersea cable partnership with Lightstorm to expand India-Southeast Asia connectivity, plus a report that enterprise customers continue to adopt Microsoft’s AI and cloud services. These are strategically helpful, but not immediate catalysts. Microsoft partners with Singapore's Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment is still being held back by Microsoft’s weak recent stock performance, with articles noting its worst month in more than 25 years and renewed debate about whether the selloff is creating a buying opportunity. Microsoft Had Its Worst Month in More Than 25 Years. Should Investors Buy the Crash?
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also facing class-action securities litigation over alleged misrepresentations during the class period, which adds a legal overhang and may keep some investors cautious. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC Urges Microsoft Corporation Investors to Act: Class Action Filed Alleging Investor Harm
• Negative Sentiment: Other reports said Microsoft may cut thousands of jobs and that investors are questioning whether its massive AI capital spending can generate enough returns. That uncertainty is weighing on the stock despite the company’s strong long-term fundamentals. Microsoft eyes another wave of layoffs that could hit 5,000 workers next week

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.86.

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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