Sicart Associates LLC Purchases 10,328 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Sicart Associates LLC sharply increased its Microsoft stake in the first quarter, buying 10,328 additional shares and lifting its holdings to 11,450 shares valued at about $4.24 million.
• Microsoft reported better-than-expected fiscal Q3 results, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, while revenue rose 18.3% year over year and margins remained strong.
• The company is drawing attention for its AI push, including a new $2.5 billion deployment business and continued enterprise adoption, though investors are also watching weak recent stock performance and legal overhangs.

Sicart Associates LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 920.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,450 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 10,328 shares during the quarter. Sicart Associates LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,238,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $390.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $406.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $417.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th 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 is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched a new AI deployment business, Microsoft Frontier Company, backed by $2.5 billion and staffed with about 6,000 engineers and industry experts to help enterprises select, implement, and improve AI tools. Investors are viewing this as a way to accelerate Azure and Copilot adoption while monetizing the enterprise AI buildout. Microsoft launches its own AI deployment company with $2.5 billion commitment
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Microsoft as a top AI and growth stock, while others said the market is rotating from semiconductors back toward software. That is helping sentiment around MSFT as investors look for higher-quality AI beneficiaries with recurring enterprise revenue. Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also reported to be overhauling Copilot to make its AI assistant more useful and easier to justify for customers. That could improve adoption, but it also underscores that AI products must now prove their value. Microsoft’s Copilot Reset Shows AI Tools Must Now Prove Their Worth
• Neutral Sentiment: There was also a new undersea cable partnership with Lightstorm to expand India-Southeast Asia connectivity, plus a report that enterprise customers continue to adopt Microsoft’s AI and cloud services. These are strategically helpful, but not immediate catalysts. Microsoft partners with Singapore's Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment is still being held back by Microsoft’s weak recent stock performance, with articles noting its worst month in more than 25 years and renewed debate about whether the selloff is creating a buying opportunity. Microsoft Had Its Worst Month in More Than 25 Years. Should Investors Buy the Crash?
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also facing class-action securities litigation over alleged misrepresentations during the class period, which adds a legal overhang and may keep some investors cautious. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC Urges Microsoft Corporation Investors to Act: Class Action Filed Alleging Investor Harm
• Negative Sentiment: Other reports said Microsoft may cut thousands of jobs and that investors are questioning whether its massive AI capital spending can generate enough returns. That uncertainty is weighing on the stock despite the company’s strong long-term fundamentals. Microsoft eyes another wave of layoffs that could hit 5,000 workers next week

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $525.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $560.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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).

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