Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.1% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) were down 0.1% during mid-day trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $414.89 and last traded at $416.55. Approximately 6,264,631 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 20,479,543 shares. The stock had previously closed at $417.00.

Specifically, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $421.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.44. The company has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.99, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after acquiring an additional 406,940 shares during the last quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the third quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,809,000 after purchasing an additional 7,208 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 8.3% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 445,759 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $191,812,000 after purchasing an additional 34,261 shares during the period. Castellan Group raised its position in Microsoft by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Castellan Group now owns 21,154 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optimist Retirement Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 187.7% during the 3rd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 16,219 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,581 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently 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.