Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Insider Bradford Smith Sells 30 Shares

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) insider Bradford Smith sold 30 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.57, for a total transaction of $11,717.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 455,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $177,869,093.13. The trade was a 0.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $4.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $478.53. The stock had a trading volume of 21,163,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,296,174. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $504.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $502.05.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results 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 during 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%.Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.89%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AMS Capital Ltda grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. AMS Capital Ltda now owns 88,347 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,759,000 after buying an additional 4,124 shares during the period. Saranac Partners Ltd bought a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $12,115,000. Severin Investments LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd 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 shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 107,733 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $55,824,000 after purchasing an additional 5,994 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, November 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $632.34.

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.