Salomon & Ludwin LLC Buys 2,959 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 61,662 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,959 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.9% of Salomon & Ludwin LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Salomon & Ludwin LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $31,901,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after buying an additional 13,691,572 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $88,714,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays reaffirmed a Buy on MSFT and kept a high $610 price target, signaling strong analyst conviction about upside from AI and cloud exposure — a line of support for the stock amid recent weakness. Microsoft receives a buy rating from Barclays
• Positive Sentiment: Wikipedia signed licensing deals with Microsoft and other big tech firms — this expands Microsoft’s access to high-quality training data and reduces content friction for AI services, supporting Azure/Copilot product differentiation. Wikipedia signs AI licensing deals
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and industry write-ups emphasize Azure’s multi-model AI infrastructure and enterprise traction, reinforcing the revenue growth narrative that underpins Microsoft’s premium valuation. Will MSFT stock climb as Azure AI gains traction?
• Positive Sentiment: Surveys and analyst commentary (Morgan Stanley / CIO surveys) continue to highlight Microsoft’s leadership in generative AI and enterprise cloud, supporting longer-term upside expectations even as the stock cools. CIO survey highlights MSFT leadership
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft rolled out a “community-first” plan for U.S. AI datacenter buildout — a strategic PR and regulatory move intended to ease local opposition and long-term buildout risk; it’s constructive but not an immediate revenue driver. Microsoft unveils community-first plan
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming earnings (fiscal Q2 results due Jan. 28) are a near-term catalyst — could amplify moves in either direction depending on Azure AI growth metrics and margin commentary. Why Jan. 28 could be big for investors
• Negative Sentiment: Switzerland’s competition authority opened a preliminary inquiry into Microsoft’s licensing fees after complaints about price hikes for Microsoft 365 — potential regulatory action could pressure product pricing and margins in Europe. Swiss probe into licensing fees
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft’s annual spend on Anthropic approaches ~$500M raise concerns about rising third‑party AI model costs and margin pressure for AI features (a strategic bet but one that increases operating expense). Anthropic spending nears $500M
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft agreed to a record purchase of soil carbon credits to offset data‑center emissions — a meaningful one‑time ESG cost and a sign of mounting operational expenses tied to AI growth (positive for ESG but a near-term cash outlay). Record soil carbon credit deal

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s 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 sale, 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $456.66 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $484.71 and its 200-day moving average is $502.84. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $630.37.

About Microsoft

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).