Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC Invests $23.77 Million in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 56,394 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $23,770,000. Microsoft makes up about 16.7% of Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Campbell Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,314,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Down 3.0 %

MSFT opened at $378.80 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $376.91 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $405.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $419.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

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.