Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Microsoft Call Options (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 355,575 call options on the company. This is an increase of 29% compared to the average volume of 274,666 call options.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 282,295 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $118,766,000 after purchasing an additional 5,044 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Microsoft by 5.1% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 80,247 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $34,208,000 after buying an additional 3,902 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New Hampshire boosted its stake in Microsoft by 15.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 36,567 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,384,000 after buying an additional 4,913 shares during the last quarter. Grassi Investment Management grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 162,755 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,474,000 after buying an additional 1,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grandview Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC now owns 39,246 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,512,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Citigroup reduced their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.68.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $8.73 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $427.51. The stock had a trading volume of 23,863,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,286,785. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $419.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $324.39 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

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.