Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.2% After Insider Selling

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price traded down 0.2% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $428.60 and last traded at $430.07. Approximately 4,772,987 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 20,485,646 shares. The stock had previously closed at $430.98.

Specifically, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,203,211.24. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2 %

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $420.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $426.55. The company has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.48, a PEG ratio of 2.25 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, Bellevue Group AG increased its position in Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. 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.