Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 1% - Should You Buy?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) shares shot up 1% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $434.48 and last traded at $429.03. 26,146,013 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 52% from the average session volume of 17,227,436 shares. The stock had previously closed at $424.58.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $509.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $512.66.

Microsoft Stock Up 4.1 %

The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.82, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $429.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $425.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after purchasing an additional 652,493 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.