Bradford Smith Acquires 3,842 Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) insider Bradford Smith purchased 3,842 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $377.46 per share, with a total value of $1,450,201.32. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 455,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $171,910,004.94. The trade was a 0.85% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $478.53 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $504.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $502.34. The company has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $350,712,742,000 after buying an additional 13,691,572 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the second 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 raised its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 24th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $632.34.

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.