Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 0.5%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $412.47 and last traded at $409.50. Approximately 4,488,517 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 21,652,949 shares. The stock had previously closed at $407.57.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $434.05.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s 50-day moving average is $414.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $386.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT bought a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,104,000. Harvey Investment Co. LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Harvey Investment Co. LLC now owns 14,928 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Smith Anglin Financial LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 4.1% in the first quarter. Smith Anglin Financial LLC now owns 13,385 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,631,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 4,496.8% in the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 257,285 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $108,245,000 after purchasing an additional 251,688 shares during the period. Finally, Archford Capital Strategies LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the first quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 45,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,204,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by 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.