Riverbend Wealth Management LLC Invests $3.32 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Riverbend Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,850 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $3,318,000. Microsoft comprises 3.0% of Riverbend Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 94,243 shares of company stock worth $41,288,738 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.16.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $454.27 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $395.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $412.61. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

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.