American Planning Services Inc. Raises Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

American Planning Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 192.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,443 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,558 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.7% of American Planning Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. American Planning Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Epiq Partners LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 55.6% during the first quarter. Epiq Partners LLC now owns 3,124 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,314,000 after buying an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,173 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC now owns 37,305 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,695,000 after buying an additional 1,952 shares during the period. Sar Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 49.3% during the 1st quarter. Sar Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 4,271 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,797,000 after buying an additional 1,411 shares during the period. Finally, Signet Financial Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 29,387 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,364,000 after buying an additional 1,133 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $410.37 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $420.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $424.55. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.77 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 35.73%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.