Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 1.5% Higher Following Dividend Announcement

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) was up 1.5% during trading on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $439.55 and last traded at $437.54. Approximately 7,004,814 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 20,481,127 shares. The stock had previously closed at $431.20.

The newly announced 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $420.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.78. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,578 shares of company stock worth $55,279,956 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant's stock worth $47,612,000 after acquiring an additional 43,327 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant's stock worth $15,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 33.6% during the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 49,412 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,789,000 after buying an additional 12,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Significant Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 8.5% during the first quarter. Significant Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $566,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

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.