Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 0.3% Following Analyst Downgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 0.3% on Thursday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $480.00 to $475.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as low as $407.09 and last traded at $410.57. Approximately 5,313,024 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 21,650,094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $411.84.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $432.13.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Bellevue Group AG bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.72, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $415.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $384.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. The company's revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

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.