Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) CFO Amy Hood Sells 38,000 Shares

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $6.69 during trading on Friday, reaching $401.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,356,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,684,760. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $428.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $422.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock worth $281,035,506,000 after buying an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after purchasing an additional 842,884 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,767,000 after purchasing an additional 97,075 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,591,126,000 after purchasing an additional 277,881 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus raised their price objective 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $494.72.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.