Investors Purchase Large Volume of Microsoft Call Options (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 368,602 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 24% compared to the average volume of 298,265 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $634.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,496,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $860,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% in the second quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $457,119,000 after acquiring an additional 33,382 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 39.3% in the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $54,376,000 after acquiring an additional 40,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 8.9% in the second quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,930,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.9%

Microsoft stock opened at $525.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $513.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $485.93.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

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.