Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Rating Lowered to "Hold" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $508.46.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of MSFT traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $436.60. 54,224,020 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,730,301. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $366.50 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $426.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.26. The company has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.