Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.83

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 11th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.83 per share by the software giant on Thursday, June 12th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%.

Microsoft has increased its dividend by an average of 10.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 23 consecutive years. Microsoft has a dividend payout ratio of 22.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Microsoft to earn $14.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.6%.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $380.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 28,085,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,197,594. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $415.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $421.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $376.91 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.54.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacific Point Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,374,000. Wick Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Wick Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,071 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. McMill Wealth Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,078,000. Vega Investment Solutions acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $16,162,000. Finally, Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,765,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.