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

Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 33.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,199 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.9% of Ridgewood Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after acquiring an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. TD Cowen cut their price target 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $408.43 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $428.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $422.92. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $385.58 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 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 in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,333,540. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.