Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Reaches New 1-Year High - Here's Why

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $506.78 and last traded at $502.29, with a volume of 6496832 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $496.62.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $534.14.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

The stock has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $469.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $425.41.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.