Ridgewood Investments LLC Sells 3,854 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ridgewood Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 47.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,253 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,854 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.3% of Ridgewood Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Banco Santander S.A. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 674,417 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $301,431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,781 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 34.2% in the 2nd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 361,377 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $161,566,000 after buying an additional 92,093 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% during the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 75,870 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $33,910,000 after buying an additional 6,989 shares during the last quarter. Mivtachim The Workers Social Insurance Fund Ltd. Under Special Management bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $14,079,000. Finally, Liberty Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the second quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,012 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,626,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.94.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $416.06 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $314.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $418.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.03. The company has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.74%.

Microsoft Company 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.