Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.2%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) was down 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $420.27 and last traded at $420.88. Approximately 3,572,472 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 22,728,043 shares. The stock had previously closed at $421.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MSFT. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Macquarie upped their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Microsoft from $420.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $423.34.

Microsoft Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $410.28 and its 200-day moving average is $373.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 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 PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Cadian Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cadian Capital Management LP now owns 107,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,438,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. raised its position in Microsoft by 5.2% during the second quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. now owns 5,075 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,728,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 82,267 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,976,000 after purchasing an additional 3,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HS Management Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. HS Management Partners LLC now owns 298,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $94,159,000 after purchasing an additional 45,560 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.