Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Trimmed by Birch Capital Management LLC

Birch Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,776 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 687 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.4% of Birch Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Birch Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $1,375,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $503.02 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $506.78. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $471.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.87, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.