Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. Has $7.94 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,449 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 120 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.2% of Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,566,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 31,648.5% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,366,000 after buying an additional 1,865,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 128.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,160,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,412,656,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776,825 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $439.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $366.50 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $427.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.69.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

About Microsoft

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.