Divergent Planning LLC Takes $317,000 Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Divergent Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 747 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $317,000. Microsoft comprises 0.1% of Divergent Planning LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $86,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 160.7% during the 4th quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $465.00 price target (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $467.12.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $446.95 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $456.17. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $424.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $410.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

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.