Essential Planning LLC. Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Essential Planning LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1,782.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 84,058 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 79,592 shares during the quarter. Essential Planning LLC.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $35,800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel grew its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,243 shares of company stock valued at $48,619,618 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $510.30.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT traded down $0.70 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $458.17. 15,422,215 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,538,085. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $396.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $412.71. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS 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 given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Microsoft Company 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.