Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 1.9% – Here’s Why

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) were up 1.9% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $443.01 and last traded at $442.61. Approximately 6,418,892 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 19,530,506 shares. The stock had previously closed at $434.56.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.72.

Microsoft Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $432.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its 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 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP increased its position in Microsoft by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,277 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,661,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the period. Finally, St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the second quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 17,187 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,682,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.