Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 2% – Time to Sell?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price dropped 2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $383.20 and last traded at $382.62. Approximately 3,718,191 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 19,252,358 shares. The stock had previously closed at $390.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.0 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $406.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $419.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $3,031,000. Avant Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,629,000. Fire Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,270,000. Fulcrum Equity Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 1,942 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $819,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $3,548,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.