Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.98

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.98 per share by the software giant on Thursday, December 10th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a 7.7% increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91.

Microsoft has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 23 years. Microsoft has a dividend payout ratio of 24.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Microsoft to earn $23.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.6%.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $497.12 on Wednesday. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $460.39 and a 200 day moving average of $420.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 19.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.0% in the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $85,604,000 after purchasing an additional 8,773 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $199,014,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after buying an additional 537,634 shares during the period. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its stake in Microsoft by 138.8% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $502,077,000 after buying an additional 788,297 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.