Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 1% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Microsoft's stock price declined by 1% to approximately $509.23, with trading volume down by 11% compared to its average daily volume.
• Analyst ratings show a range of opinions, with Royal Bank of Canada increasing its price target to $640.00 while Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from "buy" to "hold."
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.83 to $0.91, reflecting a positive shift in shareholder returns.

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) were down 1% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $507.31 and last traded at $509.23. Approximately 19,765,973 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 22,215,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $514.45.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0%

The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $459.59. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Newton One Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. 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.

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