Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 0.9%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) rose 0.9% on Monday . The company traded as high as $452.31 and last traded at $451.16. Approximately 4,846,987 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 20,810,082 shares. The stock had previously closed at $446.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $467.12.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $424.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $410.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fox Run Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 63.0% in the third quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 2,070 shares of the software giant's stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the last quarter. Mycio Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $234,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 9,108 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,876,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First County Bank CT boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. First County Bank CT now owns 23,861 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,534,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.