Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 0.2% – What’s Next?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price traded down 0.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $411.20 and last traded at $411.96. 4,991,346 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 20,454,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $412.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $421.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 7.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 183,431 shares of company stock valued at $74,956,968. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rebalance LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,542,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. First National Bank Sioux Falls lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. BCK Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Doheny Asset Management CA raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,691,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flagship Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.