WealthShield Partners LLC Raises Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Posted by Francis Steltz on Jul 26th, 2026

WealthShield Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 34,440 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,541 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.4% of WealthShield Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. WealthShield Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $381.70 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $398.21 and a 200 day moving average of $408.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13. 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 released its quarterly 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 net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. 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 business posted $3.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors 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 1.0%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Wolfe Research reduced their price target on Microsoft from $570.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 6th. China Renaissance decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $555.40.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on MSFT

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined 25 tech companies in urging U.S. policymakers not to impose broad restrictions on open-weight and open-source AI models, a stance that supports its broader AI ecosystem strategy and could help preserve flexibility for future product development. Reuters article
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also backed a coalition letter with Nvidia, Meta, and other firms arguing that open-weight AI is important for U.S. leadership, reinforcing investor confidence that the company remains a major AI platform player rather than being boxed into one model provider. Business Insider article
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded Databricks partnership extends a key cloud/data-AI relationship through the 2030s, which should help Azure adoption and strengthen long-term enterprise demand for Microsoft’s cloud services. TipRanks article
Neutral Sentiment: Several previews ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report say the big investor focus will be FY2027 CapEx guidance and Azure growth, with analysts expecting strong results but worrying that AI infrastructure spending could weigh on free cash flow and margins. MarketBeat article
Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued class-action alerts and deadline reminders tied to Microsoft securities-fraud claims, including allegations related to Copilot disclosures, which adds headline risk and may keep some investors cautious into earnings. GlobeNewswire article
Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness tied to AI spending fears also weighed on Microsoft, as investors sold mega-cap names after seeing massive capital outlays across the sector and questioning near-term returns on AI investment. Fox Business article

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile

(Free Report)

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).