Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 0.1% – Here’s What Happened

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose 0.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $391.20 and last traded at $390.41. Approximately 3,470,304 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 19,257,920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $389.97.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Price Performance

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 company’s 50 day moving average is $405.52 and its 200 day moving average is $418.97. The stock has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.