Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 0.6%

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) were up 0.6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $432.41 and last traded at $431.45. Approximately 4,092,540 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 21,234,879 shares. The stock had previously closed at $429.04.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Macquarie lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $454.70.

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a 50 day moving average of $416.08 and a 200-day moving average of $398.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS 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 given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the first 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. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.