Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 0.8%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price shot up 0.8% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $467.07 and last traded at $464.31. 4,912,009 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 20,643,225 shares. The stock had previously closed at $460.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $467.12.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $428.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $412.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $5,587,119,000. Finally, TCI Fund Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,000,376,000. 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.