Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 0.2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $419.12 and last traded at $420.72. 21,871,161 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 0% from the average session volume of 21,826,068 shares. The stock had previously closed at $421.43.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. KeyCorp started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $423.34.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $410.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $373.98. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Bellevue Group AG purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. Finally, Atlantic Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 534.5% in the second quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.