Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC Purchases Shares of 8,113 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,113 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $3,420,000. Microsoft makes up about 1.9% of Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $477.40 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $437.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $420.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $483.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 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, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.