Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 1.9% Higher – Time to Buy?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares were up 1.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $427.25 and last traded at $426.74. Approximately 7,630,184 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 20,510,889 shares. The stock had previously closed at $418.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. This represents a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 8.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Decatur Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the third quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $22,809,000 after purchasing an additional 7,208 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.3% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 445,759 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $191,812,000 after purchasing an additional 34,261 shares during the last quarter. Castellan Group raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.2% in the third quarter. Castellan Group now owns 21,154 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares during the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 187.7% in the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 16,219 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blankinship & Foster LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1,972.5% in the third quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 36,269 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,607,000 after purchasing an additional 34,519 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.