Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.7%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price fell 0.7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $396.02 and last traded at $396.44. 5,858,638 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 21,762,066 shares. The stock had previously closed at $399.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays upped their price target on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $414.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $386.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bell Bank boosted its stake in Microsoft by 17.1% in the first quarter. Bell Bank now owns 32,513 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,679,000 after buying an additional 4,739 shares in the last quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 11.1% during the first quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC now owns 8,845 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,721,000 after buying an additional 883 shares during the last quarter. Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the first quarter. Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. now owns 31,863 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,405,000 after buying an additional 935 shares during the period. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH now owns 4,969 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,090,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Summa Corp. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Summa Corp. now owns 32,390 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,623,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently 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.