Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Decreased by Center for Financial Planning Inc.

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 28th, 2023

Center for Financial Planning Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 31,352 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 204 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.8% of Center for Financial Planning Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Center for Financial Planning Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 35,465.9% in the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $66,852,000 after buying an additional 20,553,188 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after buying an additional 6,129,708 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 13.8% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 30,893,155 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,524,669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,757,500 shares during the period. Cottage Street Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 17,734.7% in the fourth quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC now owns 3,763,300 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 3,742,199 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 73.8% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 8,172,257 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,903,319,000 after acquiring an additional 3,471,095 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $304.83 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $272.55 and a 200-day moving average of $252.82. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $305.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a return on equity of 40.12% and a net margin of 33.25%. The firm had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 9.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Microsoft from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their target price on Microsoft from $332.00 to $340.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Microsoft from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $322.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total transaction of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total value of $269,380.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at $31,614,975.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Profile

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.