Marino Stram & Associates LLC Acquires 1,681 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Marino Stram & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,349 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,681 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.0% of Marino Stram & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Marino Stram & Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 5.1% in the third quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 6,184 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,203,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 98,256 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $51,146,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344 shares during the period. Aspire Growth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 14,171 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,340,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. CFM Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the third quarter. CFM Wealth Partners LLC now owns 51,423 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $26,635,000 after purchasing an additional 981 shares during the period. Finally, Northstar Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.5% during the third quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC now owns 31,941 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,544,000 after purchasing an additional 1,953 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.95.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citi reiterated a Buy on Microsoft, highlighting continued Copilot adoption and strong Azure growth as reasons the company can outpace the recent sell-off. Microsoft in focus as Citi reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying: director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares (~$2M), a behavioral vote of confidence that can help stabilize sentiment among retail/institutional investors. Microsoft Director John Stanton Buys 5,000 Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s extended OpenAI revenue arrangement (locking a meaningful share of OpenAI output through 2032) is a multi-year revenue and strategic moat tailwind for AI monetization. As Microsoft extends 20% OpenAI deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced a large long-term commitment to expand AI access in the Global South (reported ~$50B), a growth opportunity that also implies heavy multi-year capex and execution risk. Microsoft to invest $50B in Global South AI push
• Neutral Sentiment: Partnerships and marketplace traction (e.g., CrowdStrike on Microsoft Marketplace) reinforce enterprise ecosystem stickiness but have limited immediate revenue impact. Falcon on Microsoft Marketplace
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership change in gaming: Phil Spencer’s immediate retirement and replacement by Asha Sharma introduces near-term uncertainty for Xbox strategy and investor confidence in the gaming unit. Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer retires
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel downgraded MSFT (Buy→Hold) and cut its price target, citing Azure supply constraints as a near-term growth headwind — a concrete analyst call that can pressure flows and justify further volatility. Stifel flags Azure supply constraints
• Negative Sentiment: Fresh AI quality/security reports (Copilot/Office bug and “AI recommendation poisoning” threats) raise short-term adoption and reputational risk that could delay enterprise deployments and weigh on sentiment. AI recommendation poisoning concerns

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $397.23 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.84, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $452.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $487.79. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The company’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).