Christopher David Young Sells 7,200 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $5.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $423.03. 19,382,984 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,435,447. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $362.90 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $421.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $425.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 38,895.7% during the first quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 146,624 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $61,688,000 after purchasing an additional 146,248 shares during the period. InTrack Investment Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.8% during the first quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 22,123 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207 shares in the last quarter. Verum Partners LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 7,885 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,317,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the first quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 7,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,087,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the first quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,377,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 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.