Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 0.1% Higher

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $418.88 and last traded at $414.92. 3,884,831 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 21,707,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $414.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $430.52.

Microsoft Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $415.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $383.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the 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 completion of 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. 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 Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Bellevue Group AG purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, Atlantic Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 534.5% during the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.