Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 0.1% Higher – Here’s Why

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded up 0.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $425.98 and last traded at $425.13. 2,897,509 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 20,207,160 shares. The stock had previously closed at $424.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $506.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.58.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $420.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.56.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd 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. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after acquiring an additional 2,744,900 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.