Richmond Investment Services LLC Acquires Shares of 2,816 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Richmond Investment Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,816 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Columbia River Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $1,691,000. Invst LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Invst LLC now owns 15,003 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,324,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC NY bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $535,000. Cache Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $14,249,000. Finally, GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $322,481,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of MSFT opened at $480.24 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $434.09 and a 200 day moving average of $419.74. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $481.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.68.

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.