Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) CMO Sells $414,720.00 in Stock

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Takeshi Numoto also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 10th, Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $418.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $362.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the period. New Harbor Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $192,515,000 after acquiring an additional 8,290 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Investment Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $69,840,000 after acquiring an additional 5,176 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.