Sicart Associates LLC Purchases 26 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sicart Associates LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 926 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Sicart Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 534.5% in the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $69,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $83,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7 %

MSFT stock opened at $411.84 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $415.48 and a 200 day moving average of $384.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $275.37 and a 52 week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $431.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.