Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 0.5%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price traded up 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $412.47 and last traded at $409.50. 4,488,517 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 21,652,949 shares. The stock had previously closed at $407.57.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Macquarie raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.4 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $387.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,000,376,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.