Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total value of $12,557,192.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.
Microsoft Stock Performance
MSFT stock traded up $4.89 on Tuesday, hitting $333.55. The company had a trading volume of 18,547,500 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,049,623. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $213.43 and a 12-month high of $366.78. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $332.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $308.80.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.23 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 28.07%.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,714,197,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129,708 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,824,173,000 after buying an additional 1,951,554 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 200,523,373 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,810,889,000 after buying an additional 1,537,712 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,302,677,000 after buying an additional 556,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after acquiring an additional 150,053,637 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Microsoft from $340.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. UBS Group raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $345.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $375.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Credit Suisse Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 31st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $373.68.
View Our Latest Report on Microsoft
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.
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