Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Insider Bradford Smith Sells 38,500 Shares

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) insider Bradford Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $2.70 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $514.33. The company had a trading volume of 20,895,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,874,750. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $514.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $489.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.58, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Arete Research lifted their price target on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.67.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.