Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.3%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 0.3% on Monday . The company traded as low as $410.82 and last traded at $413.31. 4,509,841 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 21,520,875 shares. The stock had previously closed at $414.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $490.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.89. The company's 50-day moving average is $413.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $393.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

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 owns 159,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Security Advisor Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,255,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant's stock worth $148,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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