Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 0.1% – Should You Buy?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $452.80 and last traded at $451.83. 3,739,619 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 20,486,896 shares. The stock had previously closed at $451.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $508.46.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $426.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $428.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,566,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404,348 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Company 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.