Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 2.1% – Here’s What Happened

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares fell 2.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $416.66 and last traded at $417.74. 7,882,910 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 20,428,129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $426.89.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $422.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $425.53. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 197,829 shares of company stock valued at $80,966,837. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during 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 position 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.