Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 2.3% on Insider Selling

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) dropped 2.3% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $518.45 and last traded at $521.13. 28,379,817 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 33,442,879 shares. The stock had previously closed at $533.16.

Specifically, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $544.37, for a total transaction of $3,976,622.85. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 548,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,364,297.67. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Deutsche Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. CLSA reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up from $610.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.54.

Recent Microsoft Headlines

These are some of the MSFT headlines that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and IBM launched Imagine Enterprise, combining IBM’s more than 6,000 AI agents with Microsoft’s cloud, data and security services. The platform could help generate demand for Microsoft’s enterprise offerings. IBM and Microsoft announce AI agent platform
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore downplayed immediate disruption fears, saying Anthropic’s Claude Sheets is not yet a substitute for Excel. Microsoft’s latest reported quarter also beat earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 18.8% year over year. Evercore assesses Claude Sheets competition
• Negative Sentiment: Reporting on OpenAI’s large quarterly adjusted operating loss has raised questions about the profitability of Microsoft’s major AI bet. Investors are also weighing the scale of AI and data-center spending against potential future returns. OpenAI losses raise questions about Microsoft’s investment

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $517.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $441.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.72 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $92.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 41.17% and a return on equity of 31.28%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 19.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 315,653,206 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $117,744,959,000 after buying an additional 8,944,917 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $27,338,370,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 64,375,360 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $24,013,297,000 after acquiring an additional 543,172 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $18,306,443,000. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 12.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 46,694,778 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,418,076,000 after acquiring an additional 5,019,702 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, and digital solutions for consumers, businesses, and public-sector organizations. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Azure cloud computing, LinkedIn, GitHub, Surface devices, and Xbox gaming products and services. Microsoft also provides business software, cybersecurity tools, and artificial intelligence technologies.