Insider Selling: Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Sells 16,000 Shares of Stock

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $458.17. The stock had a trading volume of 15,422,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,538,090. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $396.84 and a 200-day moving average of $412.71.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.30.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.