Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 1.5%

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose 1.5% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $443.88 and last traded at $443.72. Approximately 3,332,982 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 20,433,369 shares. The stock had previously closed at $437.11.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.94.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $439.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $418.86.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at $5,587,119,000. Finally, TCI Fund Management Ltd. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,000,376,000. 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.