Insider Selling: Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) CMO Sells 1,000 Shares of Stock

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Takeshi Numoto also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 10th, Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSFT traded up $1.79 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $418.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 27,148,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,571,139. The company’s 50 day moving average is $421.94 and its 200 day moving average is $426.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $362.90 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 445,759 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $191,812,000 after buying an additional 34,261 shares during the last quarter. Castellan Group boosted its position in Microsoft by 5.2% during the third quarter. Castellan Group now owns 21,154 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 187.7% during the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 16,219 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,979,000 after acquiring an additional 10,581 shares during the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1,972.5% during the third quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 36,269 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,607,000 after buying an additional 34,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in Microsoft by 52.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 425,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $183,038,000 after purchasing an additional 146,725 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.