Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 2%

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $420.35 and last traded at $421.61. 4,676,777 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 20,478,420 shares. The stock had previously closed at $430.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $485.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $493.94.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company's 50-day moving average price is $418.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $425.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.42, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total value of $7,157,129.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 150,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,843,807.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant's stock worth $15,426,767,000 after purchasing an additional 97,075 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,381,692 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,544,532,000 after buying an additional 403,409 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.