Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 1.5%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price rose 1.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $408.20 and last traded at $407.12. Approximately 4,306,904 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 21,721,805 shares. The stock had previously closed at $400.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Price Performance

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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.99, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $387.09.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $69,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.