Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Sets New 52-Week High Following Dividend Announcement

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $475.47 and last traded at $474.87, with a volume of 5449904 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $470.92.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.89.

Microsoft Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.59, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $423.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $417.84.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 17.2% during the first quarter. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,914 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,094,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 108.4% in the 1st quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc now owns 1,949 shares of the software giant's stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014 shares in the last quarter. Birchbrook Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,375,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. now owns 73,560 shares of the software giant's stock worth $27,614,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $258,000. Institutional investors 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.