Short Interest in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Increases By 23.7%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 66,330,000 shares, a growth of 23.7% from the February 13th total of 53,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 22,750,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $387.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $376.91 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $410.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $420.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.43.

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.