Key Points
- Insider purchase: Microsoft insider Bradford Smith bought 3,842 shares on April 23 at an average price of $377.46 for a total of ~$1.45 million, increasing his holdings to 455,439 shares (a 0.85% stake increase); the trade was disclosed in an SEC filing.
- Company performance and sentiment: Microsoft recently beat quarterly estimates (EPS $4.13; revenue $77.67B, up 18.4% YoY), has a $3.56 trillion market cap and a P/E of 34.03, and analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating with an average price target of about $632.34.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) insider Bradford Smith sold 30 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.57, for a total value of $11,717.10. Following the transaction, the insider owned 455,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $177,869,093.13. This represents a 0.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.
Microsoft Trading Down 1.0%
Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $4.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $478.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,163,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,296,174. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $504.05 and a 200 day moving average of $502.05.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $500.00 price target (down from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Arete Research upped their price target on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Microsoft to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $682.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $632.34.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $50,493,678,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock worth $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 500.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after acquiring an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Microsoft
(
Get Free Report)
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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