Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 1.9%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares were up 1.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $406.58 and last traded at $405.48. Approximately 6,224,779 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 21,942,240 shares. The stock had previously closed at $397.84.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $465.00 price target (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.21, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $413.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $389.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,025,258 shares of company stock worth $12,160,356. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% during the third quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,798,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 5.1% in the third quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 3,963 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meredith Wealth Planning increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 128.5% in the third quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 2,674 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $844,000 after buying an additional 1,504 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.