Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 1% - Time to Buy?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $417.31 and last traded at $418.28. Approximately 6,776,568 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 21,826,482 shares. The stock had previously closed at $413.94.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9 %

The company has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $425.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $422.79.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. This trade represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.