Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 1.1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) were up 1.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $434.48 and last traded at $429.27. Approximately 9,278,299 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 16,863,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $424.58.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $512.93.

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day moving average is $429.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $426.58.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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 net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,302 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,027,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. FCG Investment Co grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 30,818 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,990,000 after buying an additional 2,817 shares during the last quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $566,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 3,956 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 72,185 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,426,000 after buying an additional 23,352 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

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.