Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Reaches New 52-Week High - Still a Buy?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $468.75 and last traded at $468.11, with a volume of 5762981 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $463.87.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

The firm has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The firm's fifty day moving average is $417.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $416.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,374,718,000 after buying an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

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.