Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 2.6%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) shares fell 2.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $417.75 and last traded at $418.10. 8,197,936 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 21,006,330 shares. The stock had previously closed at $429.17.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $465.00 price target (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $454.70.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.4 %

The company has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $416.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $400.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm'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 firm posted $2.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock worth $281,035,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078,099 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant's stock worth $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,160,020,000 after acquiring an additional 842,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

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.