Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Reaches New 52-Week High at $433.60

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $433.60 and last traded at $430.08, with a volume of 2653875 shares. The stock had previously closed at $430.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 target price (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $454.70.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $416.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $397.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Group AG grew its holdings in Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 58 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.