Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.5% – Here’s What Happened

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price dropped 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $380.08 and last traded at $381.46. Approximately 4,816,847 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 23,075,895 shares. The stock had previously closed at $383.27.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.43.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.6 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $412.43 and its 200-day moving average is $420.55. 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 has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.