Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 1.1% – Still a Buy?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price shot up 1.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $434.48 and last traded at $429.27. 9,278,299 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 16,863,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $424.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $512.93.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0 %

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $429.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $426.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.40, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Microsoft by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,439,407,000 after buying an additional 4,568,539 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Microsoft by 46.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently 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.