Microsoft Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 355,575 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 29% compared to the typical daily volume of 274,666 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. New Harbor Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 296.7% in the 1st quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 81,502 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,427,000 after acquiring an additional 12,994 shares during the period. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the first quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 12,521 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,268,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the period. Finally, Leeward Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 15.8% during the first quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 35,610 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,982,000 after purchasing an additional 4,861 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $427.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $420.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.56. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $324.39 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.68.

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.