Planning Center Inc. Has $1.65 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Planning Center Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,383 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 0.4% of Planning Center Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Planning Center Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Private Ocean LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 25,060 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,424,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,180,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $466,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 61,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,079,000 after acquiring an additional 1,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $432.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $399.12 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $414.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $385.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $275.37 and a 12-month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The company’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

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.