Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 0.6%

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shot up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $417.64 and last traded at $416.07. 4,922,118 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 21,791,820 shares. The stock had previously closed at $413.64.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $431.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $415.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $384.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued 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 0.73%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 directly 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Bellevue Group AG acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. 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.