Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 0.2%

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded up 0.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $452.24 and last traded at $451.96. 2,930,249 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 20,816,951 shares. The stock had previously closed at $450.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $421.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $408.52. The firm has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC now owns 38,095 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,028,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. My Personal CFO LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.8% during the third quarter. My Personal CFO LLC now owns 30,829 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,734,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 5,508,950 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,739,451,000 after purchasing an additional 37,601 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 537,733 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,789,000 after purchasing an additional 35,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LGT Group Foundation grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 1,016,532 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $327,120,000 after purchasing an additional 25,522 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.