Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 0.1% - Time to Sell?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 0.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $425.60 and last traded at $428.65. 5,143,667 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 17,314,311 shares. The stock had previously closed at $429.03.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $512.93.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $429.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,439,407,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is 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.