Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 0.1%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares traded up 0.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $419.55 and last traded at $417.57. 3,245,749 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 20,443,275 shares. The stock had previously closed at $417.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $506.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.94.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $418.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $425.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bayesian Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Microsoft by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,238,000 after acquiring an additional 18,200 shares during the last quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after buying an additional 956 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $550,086,000 after buying an additional 5,253 shares in the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 296.7% during the first quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,274,000 after buying an additional 2,264 shares during the period. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,538,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by 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.