Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 0.1% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) were down 0.1% during mid-day trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $414.89 and last traded at $416.55. Approximately 6,264,631 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 20,479,543 shares. The stock had previously closed at $417.00.

Specifically, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2 %

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’s 50 day moving average is $421.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $426.44. The stock has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares during the period. Decatur Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the third quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $22,809,000 after acquiring an additional 7,208 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.3% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 445,759 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $191,812,000 after acquiring an additional 34,261 shares during the period. Castellan Group raised its holdings in Microsoft by 5.2% during the third quarter. Castellan Group now owns 21,154 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optimist Retirement Group LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 187.7% in the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 16,219 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,581 shares during the period. 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.