23,012 Shares in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Purchased by Ring Mountain Capital LLC

Ring Mountain Capital LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 23,012 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $9,699,000. Microsoft comprises about 6.5% of Ring Mountain Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Torray Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 39,010 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,443,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $764,000. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,271 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,329,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Burt Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 11,516 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,854,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,622,581 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $683,918,000 after acquiring an additional 140,712 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT traded up $0.56 on Friday, reaching $438.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,313,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,454,441. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $389.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $411.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Company 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.