Ridgeline Wealth LLC Invests $307,000 in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ridgeline Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 728 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BCK Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 6,986 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,108,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 2,997 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,290,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in Microsoft by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Sequent Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $853,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $408.43 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $428.76 and its 200-day moving average is $422.92. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.