Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.83

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.83 per share by the software giant on Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75.

Microsoft has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. Microsoft has a payout ratio of 22.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Microsoft to earn $15.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.0%.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $435.15 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $422.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.68, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $61,843,807.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Microsoft stock. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 27.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. WFA Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.