Ridgewood Investments LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,172 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.8% of Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,073,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after buying an additional 150,053,637 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $20,700,525,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 35,465.9% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $66,852,000 after acquiring an additional 20,553,188 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Microsoft by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 119,417,954 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,638,815,000 after acquiring an additional 14,652,150 shares during the period. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 348.6% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 11,998,927 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $894,426,000 after purchasing an additional 9,324,182 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 5th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $423.34.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

MSFT opened at $421.43 on Thursday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $409.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $373.65. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $272.05 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.63 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, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.