Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. Sells 1,460 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. cut its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,979 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,460 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.4% of Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Cordant Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 647.8% in the fourth quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Family CFO Inc lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% in the third quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $434.05.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $409.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $275.37 and a twelve month high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $387.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.