Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Hits New 1-Year High After Earnings Beat

Key Points

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Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock traded as high as $555.45 and last traded at $539.00, with a volume of 17079432 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $513.24.

The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The business's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock valued at $27,520,933 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock worth $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $489.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $434.88. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.42, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

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.