Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Sells $3,050,352.00 in Stock

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $426.89 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $362.90 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50 day moving average is $421.71 and its 200 day moving average is $425.43.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 38,895.7% during the 1st quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 146,624 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $61,688,000 after buying an additional 146,248 shares in the last quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 22,123 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Verum Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 7,885 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,317,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 7,337 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,087,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% during the first quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,377,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

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.