Microsoft Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 525,218 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 59% compared to the typical volume of 330,608 call options.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0%

MSFT stock opened at $453.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.48, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $393.86 and a 200-day moving average of $412.42.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after buying an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.16.

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.