Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 0.6% on Analyst Downgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock price was down 0.6% during trading on Monday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $485.00 to $470.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as low as $415.65 and last traded at $415.77. Approximately 2,911,875 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 20,213,559 shares. The stock had previously closed at $418.16.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $495.68.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft 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 directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft 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 directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rebalance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,542,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the second quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,691,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flagship Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the second quarter. Flagship Private Wealth LLC now owns 913 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $419.66 and a 200-day moving average of $424.54. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released 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. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.