Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 0.3% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded up 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $426.07 and last traded at $422.97. 3,978,813 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 20,590,137 shares. The stock had previously closed at $421.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $428.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $428.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.39%.

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, 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 value of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after acquiring an additional 18,544 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.