Tempus Wealth Planning LLC Has $7.75 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Tempus Wealth Planning LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,604 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 201 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.4% of Tempus Wealth Planning LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at about $87,000. Cordant Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 647.8% during the fourth quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 344 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Family CFO Inc lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $146,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $295.25 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $414.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $387.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.74, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft 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.