Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.9% Following Insider Selling

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 0.9% during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $413.03 and last traded at $413.05. 2,447,417 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 20,782,576 shares. The stock had previously closed at $416.79.

Specifically, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, New Street Research began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $494.72.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $433.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $422.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $5,587,119,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $4,000,376,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 277.8% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,004,341 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,633,912,000 after purchasing an additional 5,150,160 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.