Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Sells $9,756,055.00 in Stock

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $450.18 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $402.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $413.90.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $259,539,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.13.

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.