Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 1.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded down 1.5% on Wednesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $520.00 to $500.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as low as $412.21 and last traded at $416.41. 14,543,475 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 20,590,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $422.92.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 target price (up from $465.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $485.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 3,532,139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,578,690,000 after buying an additional 36,172 shares during the period. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 44,998 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,112,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY raised its stake in Microsoft by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 220,406 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $98,513,000 after purchasing an additional 19,181 shares during the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 35,259 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,759,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 122,415 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $54,714,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.4 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $440.44 and a 200 day moving average of $421.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

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.