Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 0.5%

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.4 %

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $414.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $387.17. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,727,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 2,663 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 25 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.