Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) was up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $417.64 and last traded at $416.07. Approximately 4,922,118 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 21,791,820 shares. The stock had previously closed at $413.64.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. KeyCorp started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $430.52.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Performance
The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.64, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $415.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $383.26.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 27.12%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Institutional Trading of Microsoft
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,554 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $50,302,677,000 after acquiring an additional 556,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after acquiring an additional 150,053,637 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Microsoft Company Profile
(
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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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