Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by United Bank

Posted by Geri Gentry on Jul 27th, 2026

United Bank boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 15.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,224 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,411 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.1% of United Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. United Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 251.8% during the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 24,979 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,247,000 after buying an additional 17,878 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 58,850 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $21,785,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares during the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 123,856 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,635 shares during the last quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,698 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,330,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 428,997 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $156,616,000 after acquiring an additional 11,848 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. New Street Research lowered their target price on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Citizens Jmp initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price objective for the company. Finally, HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $555.40.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Microsoft

Key Stories 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

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $381.70 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $398.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $407.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $555.45.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors 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 yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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 on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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).