Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 2.3% on Insider Selling

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price traded down 2.3% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $475.20 and last traded at $478.5410. 33,500,425 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 51% from the average session volume of 22,199,627 shares. The stock had previously closed at $490.00.

Specifically, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim set a $675.00 target price on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.33.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $507.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $500.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.