Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Sells $9,756,055.00 in Stock

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock traded up $2.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $454.86. 17,993,059 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,536,276. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company's fifty day moving average price is $399.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $413.31.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mattson Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 25,922 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,731,000 after purchasing an additional 5,834 shares during the period. BOS Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% during the first quarter. BOS Asset Management LLC now owns 7,307 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,743,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $2,349,000. Main Line Retirement Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 3.6% in the first quarter. Main Line Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 2,727 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MBL Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. MBL Wealth LLC now owns 19,417 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.13.

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.

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