Western Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 82,491 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,280 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.3% of Western Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $42,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Phillip Securities raised shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, February 1st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.95.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies reiterates Microsoft as an AI market leader, saying MSFT is well positioned to capture rising enterprise AI spending — a bullish analyst view that supports investor confidence. ‘Microsoft Will Be the AI Winner,’ Says Jefferies
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s large funding round is seen as easing worries around Microsoft’s OpenAI-linked exposure and gives MSFT “breathing room” for the partnership — a sentiment boost for the stock. OpenAI Funding Gives Microsoft (MSFT) Stock Breathing Space
• Positive Sentiment: New commercial deals and partnerships expand enterprise AI use-cases for Azure — notably a memorandum with Codelco to explore AI/automation in mining, which validates MSFT’s industrial AI TAM. Codelco, Microsoft sign AI deal for mining operations
• Positive Sentiment: Broader AI infrastructure demand remains strong (chip makers raising forecasts), implying continued cloud and Azure capacity spending from hyperscalers like Microsoft. This macro tailwind supports data-center related revenue. Broadcom sees revenue above estimates as AI fuels custom chip demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft says Anthropic products remain available to customers despite a Pentagon security designation, reducing risk of immediate commercial disruption but leaving policy uncertainty unresolved. Microsoft says Anthropic’s products can remain available to customers after security risk designation
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentators debate whether the recent MSFT pullback (capex/margin concerns vs. long?term AI upside) creates a buying opportunity — this fuels both bargain-hunting and caution among investors. Down 15% in 2026, Should You Buy the Dip in Microsoft Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Japan’s antitrust authority raided Microsoft’s Tokyo offices over suspected monopoly abuse — a regulatory probe that increases execution risk and could pressure the shares if it escalates. Microsoft Faces Japan Antitrust Probe As Gaming Shifts And AI Deals Grow
• Negative Sentiment: Customer and operator complaints about widespread Outlook email blocking highlight service/friction risks that could attract regulatory or reputational scrutiny. Microsoft Draws Internet Ire Over Wave of Email Blocking
• Negative Sentiment: Some shops have trimmed ratings/targets and debate valuation after a steep market cap decline — analyst downgrades and macro risk (rates, geopolitics) can keep selling pressure near term. Melius Research and Stifel Downgrade Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) to Hold

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $410.68 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $436.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $480.53. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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).