Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 0.3%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price traded up 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $411.94 and last traded at $411.89. 4,163,562 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 21,685,096 shares. The stock had previously closed at $410.54.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $413.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $392.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $80,000. 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.