Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 0.8%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price traded down 0.8% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $398.55 and last traded at $398.86. 4,884,159 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 21,878,039 shares. The stock had previously closed at $402.25.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $389.48.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.7% during the third quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 4.9% during the third quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,162 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,893,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Landmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $1,080,000. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,433 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,294,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.