Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Judson Althoff Sells 16,000 Shares

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $458.17 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $398.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $413.04. The company has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James boosted their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.30.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,789,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,980,299,000 after acquiring an additional 217,509 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.