Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 0.1% – Here’s Why

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares dropped 0.1% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $397.93 and last traded at $399.22. Approximately 5,857,542 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 22,273,707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $399.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $420.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $422.62. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total value of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,203,211.24. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,070,340. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.