Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 5.7% on Analyst Downgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded down 5.7% on Thursday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $510.00 to $500.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as low as $407.38 and last traded at $408.00. 16,373,466 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 20,231,787 shares. The stock had previously closed at $432.53.

MSFT has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Epiq Partners LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 55.6% during the first quarter. Epiq Partners LLC now owns 3,124 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,173 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.5% during the first quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC now owns 37,305 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,695,000 after buying an additional 1,952 shares during the last quarter. Sar Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 49.3% during the 1st quarter. Sar Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 4,271 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,797,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signet Financial Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 29,387 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,364,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $420.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.08 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 35.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 24.75%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.