Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 1.3%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $395.24 and last traded at $394.42. 6,266,542 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 21,972,195 shares. The stock had previously closed at $389.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.4 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $414.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $389.48. The firm has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have 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

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant's stock worth $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $4,000,376,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant's stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during 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.