Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 29th, 2023

Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. cut its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 38.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,665 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 7,819 shares during the period. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its stake in Microsoft by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. 69.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.32, for a total transaction of $272,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 116,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,687,699.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 6,767 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,111. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $280.00 to $322.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $320.00 to $340.00 in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $322.88.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.8 %

MSFT stock opened at $307.26 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $308.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $2.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.29, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $273.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $253.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a net margin of 33.25% and a return on equity of 38.98%. The business had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 29.47%.

About Microsoft

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.