Ridgewood Investments LLC Purchases 1,062 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ridgewood Investments LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 33.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,199 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.9% of Ridgewood Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.0% during the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 26,307 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,758,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,046,422 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $914,648,000 after buying an additional 20,253 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $408.43 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $428.76 and its 200-day moving average is $422.92. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $385.58 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Mizuho decreased their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

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.