Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 0.5% – Here’s Why

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $426.97 and last traded at $424.56. 15,036,448 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 17,460,740 shares. The stock had previously closed at $422.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Loop Capital upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Performance

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 company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.61.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealth Group Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Cumberland Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Cumberland Advisors Inc. now owns 19,985 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,424,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc. now owns 2,779 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,171,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,540 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,600,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Private Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 75,174 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,686,000 after buying an additional 6,193 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.