Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 0.7% – Here’s Why

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price shot up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $395.80 and last traded at $395.65. 4,285,578 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 23,002,182 shares. The stock had previously closed at $393.08.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $408.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $419.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,204,664,000 after purchasing an additional 49,735 shares during the period. Gill Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% in the third quarter. Gill Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,175 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,087,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors grew its position in Microsoft by 3.1% during the third quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 26,460 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,386,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.