Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Takeshi Numoto Sells 2,850 Shares of Stock

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of MSFT opened at $483.16 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $507.29 and a 200 day moving average of $500.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Saranac Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $12,115,000. Severin Investments LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 46.1% during the third quarter. Severin Investments LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Microsoft by 2.6% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 439,993 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $227,895,000 after acquiring an additional 11,017 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Microsoft by 5.9% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 107,733 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $55,824,000 after acquiring an additional 5,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.5% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,519,161 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,304,799,000 after acquiring an additional 131,369 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Arete Research upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Arete increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.33.

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.