ATX Financial Planning LLC Buys Shares of 3,050 Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• ATX Financial Planning LLC initiated a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter, buying 3,050 shares worth about $1.475 million. The stake makes Microsoft about 1.1% of the firm’s portfolio.
• Microsoft continues to draw heavy institutional interest, with major holders like Vanguard, State Street, Geode Capital, Morgan Stanley, and Norges Bank increasing or adding positions. Overall, institutional investors own 71.13% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock: Microsoft has a Moderate Buy consensus rating and an average price target of $561.20. The article also notes strong recent earnings, with quarterly revenue and EPS both beating estimates.

ATX Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,050 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,475,000. Microsoft accounts for about 1.1% of ATX Financial Planning LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant's stock worth $148,060,557,000 after buying an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,056,019,000 after buying an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after acquiring an additional 980,439 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. New Street Research decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They issued a "market outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly building a more than $1 billion annual AI and cloud business with ByteDance in China, underscoring strong demand for its Azure and OpenAI-related services. Microsoft Scores Massive China AI Win as TikTok Parent Eyes $1 Billion Spend
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s push to monetize ChatGPT with ads highlights continued AI commercialization, which may support sentiment around Microsoft’s OpenAI stake and AI strategy. OpenAI Brings ChatGPT Ads to Japan
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is said to be moving Copilot to usage-based pricing and exploring cheaper AI models, a sign it is trying to improve margins as AI infrastructure costs rise. Microsoft (MSFT) Moves Copilot To Usage Based Pricing As AI Costs Rise
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports say investors are increasingly worried about Microsoft’s AI valuation, spending, and monetization, which is weighing on the stock. Microsoft Faces AI Expectations Test
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also facing securities class-action lawsuits and investigations over alleged misleading AI-related statements, adding legal uncertainty. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC Urges Microsoft Corporation Investors to Act: Class Action Filed Alleging Investor Harm
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft walked away from a potential $3 billion Oracle cloud deal suggest possible friction in securing additional cloud capacity. Why Microsoft Stock Slumped Today

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $379.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $412.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.46 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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