Bradford Smith Sells 3,812 Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) insider Bradford Smith sold 3,812 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $438.82, for a total value of $1,672,781.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 451,597 shares in the company, valued at $198,169,795.54. This represents a 0.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $478.53 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $504.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $502.34. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Level Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on Microsoft from $640.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $632.34.

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.