Insider Selling: Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Sells 14,398 Shares of Stock

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $3.30 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $413.49. 13,134,706 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,847,697. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.80, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $434.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.87. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Macquarie increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $494.72.

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.