Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 1.6% – Time to Sell?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares were down 1.6% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $421.90 and last traded at $423.55. Approximately 3,462,350 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 20,579,115 shares. The stock had previously closed at $430.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8 %

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 cap of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $428.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $428.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, 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 transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is 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.