PDS Planning Inc Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

PDS Planning Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,630 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 3,888 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.4% of PDS Planning Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. PDS Planning Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $1,375,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

MSFT stock opened at $520.84 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $495.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $437.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.18, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,743 shares of company stock valued at $24,921,913 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.

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