Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 0.7% on Insider Selling

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) was down 0.7% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $418.23 and last traded at $420.28. Approximately 3,470,296 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 20,358,561 shares. The stock had previously closed at $423.03.

Specifically, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $425.44.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This is a positive change 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 dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.75%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program 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 programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Red Tortoise LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% in the first quarter. Red Tortoise LLC now owns 4,288 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,804,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. United Capital Management of KS Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. United Capital Management of KS Inc. now owns 37,106 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,611,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.4% during the first quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,580,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wiser Wealth Management Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 30.7% during the 1st quarter. Wiser Wealth Management Inc now owns 1,700 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $715,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.