Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 1.4% Higher – Still a Buy?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $511.60 and last traded at $510.18. Approximately 28,366,562 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 29% from the average daily volume of 21,983,617 shares. The stock had previously closed at $503.29.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $632.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Finally, DA Davidson set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $633.59.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.4%

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $513.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $495.09. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $350,712,742,000 after buying an additional 13,691,572 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.