Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 0.2% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares traded up 0.2% during trading on Friday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $490.00 to $505.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $419.65 and last traded at $417.51. 6,248,476 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 20,245,268 shares. The stock had previously closed at $416.72.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $506.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Argus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.68.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Leibman Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 9,745 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,100,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. VERITY Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. VERITY Wealth Advisors now owns 9,141 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,846,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.2% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 818,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $344,259,000 after buying an additional 47,704 shares during the period. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,215 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,981,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC now owns 3,494 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $419.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.