Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.9%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 0.9% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $413.03 and last traded at $413.05. 2,447,417 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 20,782,576 shares. The stock had previously closed at $416.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $506.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $494.72.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $434.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $422.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,964 shares of company stock worth $6,245,404. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arvest Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,007,000. Amarillo National Bank raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Amarillo National Bank now owns 18,161 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,829,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,625,201,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 68,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,731,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Augustine Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,733 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,966,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.