Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Insider Bradford L. Smith Sells 6,000 Shares

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $433.31 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $386.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $411.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $3.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Neo Ivy Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 54.2% in the 1st quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 12,754 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,788,000 after acquiring an additional 4,483 shares during the last quarter. BloombergSen Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $15,879,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,681,055 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $631,051,000 after buying an additional 17,553 shares during the period. USAdvisors Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% in the first quarter. USAdvisors Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,279 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,357,000 after buying an additional 577 shares during the period. Finally, Elefante Mark B increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 21.6% in the first quarter. Elefante Mark B now owns 13,269 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given 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 $507.77.

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.