Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd Purchases Shares of 8,008 Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,008 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $3,375,000. Microsoft accounts for about 1.5% of Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in 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 last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP increased 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 acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. NRI Wealth Management LC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $2,863,000. Finally, Fairbanks Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% during the second quarter. Fairbanks Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,295,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $408.25 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $425.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.69. The company has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total transaction of $423,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

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.