Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 0.3% – What’s Next?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price was up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $426.07 and last traded at $422.97. Approximately 3,978,813 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 20,590,137 shares. The stock had previously closed at $421.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.90.

Microsoft Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $428.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $428.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.