Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.7%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price fell 0.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $416.71 and last traded at $417.82. 4,306,021 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 20,465,793 shares. The stock had previously closed at $420.69.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $506.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $493.94.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $418.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $425.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.