Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 0.2% Higher – What’s Next?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $439.94 and last traded at $438.25. 3,931,460 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 20,496,410 shares. The stock had previously closed at $437.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $504.36.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2 %

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $421.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $426.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given 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 yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total transaction of $874,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 51,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,675,916.64. The trade was a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 98,578 shares of company stock worth $40,553,696. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, Bellevue Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is 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.