Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 1.6% – Here’s What Happened

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares shot up 1.6% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $492.30 and last traded at $491.02. 20,667,093 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 7% from the average session volume of 22,203,555 shares. The stock had previously closed at $483.16.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, November 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price objective on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $632.34.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $507.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $501.59. The company has a market capitalization of $3.65 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.93, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

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

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.