Life Planning Partners Inc Acquires 51 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Life Planning Partners Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 591 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s 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 owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.79.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $510.05 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $514.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $477.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $428.49. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.