Sawyer & Company Inc Buys 3,110 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Sawyer & Company Inc increased its Microsoft stake by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 3,110 additional shares and bringing its total to 28,150 shares worth about $13.6 million.
• Microsoft continues to attract strong institutional interest, with 71.13% of shares owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors, while analysts still view the stock favorably overall with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $560.88.
• The company reported solid quarterly results, including 18.3% revenue growth and earnings per share that beat expectations, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share payable on June 11.

Sawyer & Company Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,150 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 3,110 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.8% of Sawyer & Company Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Sawyer & Company Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $49,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $615.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $560.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia teased “a new era of PC,” with reports pointing to new Surface hardware and a possible AI-focused chip announcement at Computex, which could refresh the Windows/PC upgrade cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft will unveil a new coding model and other in-house AI tools at next week’s Build conference reinforce the company’s AI monetization story and support sentiment around GitHub Copilot and Azure demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings backdrop remains solid, with revenue growth of 18.3% and better-than-expected EPS, helping investors justify the stock’s premium valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish writeups and analyst commentary say MSFT still has room to run because Azure, M365 cloud, and AI revenue are expanding faster than the broader software market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also drawing attention from investors, fund managers, and even congressional buyers, which supports the stock’s defensive-growth reputation but does not change fundamentals on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: A TechCrunch report says Microsoft is facing backlash for threatening a security researcher over unpatched bugs and code disclosure, adding some reputational noise ahead of Build. Article Title

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $450.24 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $356.28 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $402.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $434.62. The company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

About Microsoft

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).

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