Microsoft Co. (MSFT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.75 on September 12th

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 12th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of 0.75 per share by the software giant on Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%.

Microsoft has increased its dividend by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 22 years. Microsoft has a dividend payout ratio of 22.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Microsoft to earn $13.18 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.8%.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $441.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.23, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average of $417.37 and a 200 day moving average of $404.04. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $443.40.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Microsoft stock. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 27.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $465.83.

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.