Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shot up 1% on Monday . The company traded as high as $434.48 and last traded at $429.03. 26,146,013 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 52% from the average session volume of 17,227,436 shares. The stock had previously closed at $424.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup cut their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.93.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $429.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $425.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. OLIO Financial Planning grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. OLIO Financial Planning now owns 1,211 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,662,000. MKT Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 9,280 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,981,000 after buying an additional 920 shares during the period. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC now owns 8,689 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,663,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarendon Private LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $5,077,000. 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.