Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) rose 2.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $425.61 and last traded at $425.14. Approximately 4,822,146 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 16,288,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $415.67.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $511.62.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Up 2.4 %
The stock's fifty day moving average is $429.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $426.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.
Insider Activity
In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % 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 valued at $17,383,892 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Institutional Trading of Microsoft
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant's stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant's stock worth $32,830,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.
About Microsoft
(
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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.
Further Reading
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