Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.83

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, June 10th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of 0.83 per share by the software giant on Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st.

Microsoft has a payout ratio of 21.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Microsoft to earn $14.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.6%.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock traded up $6.70 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $479.32. 12,297,253 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,138,502. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm's fifty day moving average is $423.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $417.84. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $480.42. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Versor Investments LP boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 43.1% in the 1st quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 701 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Envision Financial Planning LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.7% in the first quarter. Envision Financial Planning LLC now owns 701 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Omega Group Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $211,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Finally, Atlantic Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.4% in the first quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 509 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

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.