Retirement Planning Group LLC Grows Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Retirement Planning Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,328 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,475 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 0.5% of Retirement Planning Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Retirement Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after buying an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,591,126,000 after purchasing an additional 277,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,381,692 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,544,532,000 after acquiring an additional 403,409 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

MSFT stock opened at $408.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $428.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.72.

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.