Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 2% – Here’s Why

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price fell 2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $427.36 and last traded at $429.14. 4,413,087 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 20,591,373 shares. The stock had previously closed at $438.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $428.65 and a 200-day moving average of $428.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.25, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 389.2% during the 3rd quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,137,000 after buying an additional 42,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Harbor Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 55.9% in the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.