Smith Salley Wealth Management Acquires 9,137 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Smith Salley Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 234,981 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,137 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 6.3% of Smith Salley Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $121,709,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Generate Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd now owns 248,931 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $128,934,000 after acquiring an additional 44,132 shares during the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 15,523 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,378 shares during the period. Kingsman Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 15,703 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,133,000 after purchasing an additional 2,647 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 140,611 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $72,830,000 after purchasing an additional 31,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Base Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Base Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $921,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Sunday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $655.00 target price on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn restated a “neutral” rating and set a $500.00 price objective (down from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Melius Research boosted their target price on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $630.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $477.18 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $487.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $503.65.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Buy and a $655 price target, highlighting Microsoft’s advantaged position in the AI stack and projecting material EPS upside — a major bullish institutional endorsement that can support the stock over time. Goldman Sachs coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is partnering on AI-enabled gene-therapy research with NVIDIA and academic groups — a signal that Azure + AI partnerships are expanding into new, high-value markets beyond core cloud and productivity. FT: AI breakthrough for gene therapies
• Positive Sentiment: Reported December data shows a meaningful drop in MSFT short interest (about a 20% decline from mid-December), which reduces immediate downside pressure from short-covering events and indicates fewer bearish bets. (Market data)
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo kept an Outperform/Overweight stance on MSFT even after trimming its target — a mixed analyst signal that supports the long-term case while recognizing near-term valuation/expense concerns. Wells Fargo note
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces highlight new revenue plays (e.g., Copilot Checkout for retail and positioning as a “trusted operating system” for enterprise commerce) — product-led upside that may take time to monetize and thus is a medium-term positive but not an immediate catalyst. MarketWatch: software comeback
• Negative Sentiment: President Trump said Microsoft will make “major changes” this week to ensure consumers don’t shoulder higher electricity costs from AI data centers — language that introduces political/regulatory risk and the possibility the company could face constraints or added costs related to data-center expansion. Reuters: Trump on data-center power costs
• Negative Sentiment: Rumors of large layoffs (11k–22k) circulated and prompted executive pushback; even when denied, such rumors can weigh on sentiment and raise concerns about restructuring costs or execution risk. FastCompany: layoff rumors response
• Negative Sentiment: Spence Asset Management reduced its MSFT stake, a small but visible instance of institutional selling that can add to intraday pressure when combined with the other negatives. TipRanks: fund cuts stake

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).