Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 2.5% Following Insider Selling

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price fell 2.5% on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $498.07 and last traded at $495.51. 8,527,783 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 22,107,371 shares. The stock had previously closed at $507.97.

Specifically, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. TD Cowen increased their target price on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $509.93 and a 200-day moving average of $450.60. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691,572 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,714,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. 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.