Insider Selling: Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Sells $7,330,880.00 in Stock

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $454.86 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $401.04 and a 200 day moving average of $413.59. The company has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fosun International Ltd lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.13.

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.