Richmond Investment Services LLC Invests $1.19 Million in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Richmond Investment Services LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,816 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $480.24 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $481.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $434.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $419.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.