Sitrin Capital Management LLC Buys 581 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Sitrin Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,162 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.7% of Sitrin Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Sitrin Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. now owns 16,027 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,472,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the second quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 33,109 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,798,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 13,230 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,169,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 195,507 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $87,893,000 after buying an additional 3,191 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $421.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $366.50 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Microsoft

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.