Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Sells $460,010.00 in Stock

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $1.00 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $462.97. The stock had a trading volume of 15,728,007 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,462,077. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $410.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $415.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 32.7% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the software giant's stock worth $757,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 39.3% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant's stock worth $54,376,000 after buying an additional 40,860 shares in the last quarter. Plum Street Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Plum Street Advisors LLC now owns 3,187 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,196,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34.2% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,097,614 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $415,139,000 after buying an additional 279,426 shares during the period. Finally, Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 3,310 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,243,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $513.13.

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.