Ridgewood Investments LLC Sells 65 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ridgewood Investments LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,107 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 65 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.8% of Ridgewood Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,000,376,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $449.78 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $419.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $407.44. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.94, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $450.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 price objective (up previously from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $467.12.

Microsoft 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.