Tempus Wealth Planning LLC Purchases 148 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Tempus Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,378 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 148 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.8% of Tempus Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $141,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $378.80 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $376.91 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $405.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $419.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.