Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 1.4% Following Insider Selling

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price dropped 1.4% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $416.49 and last traded at $417.42. Approximately 31,616,244 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 35,534,016 shares. The stock had previously closed at $423.54.

Specifically, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Microsoft to $502.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.88.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Elon Musk’s lawsuit loss against OpenAI removed a major legal overhang tied to Microsoft’s AI partner ecosystem, which investors viewed as supportive for MSFT’s long-term AI strategy. Musk loses blockbuster OpenAI suit as jury says too late
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also unveiled new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop for Business models powered by Intel Core Ultra chips, reinforcing its push into enterprise AI hardware and productivity devices. Microsoft launches Surface Pro 12 and Surface Laptop 8 with Intel chips
• Positive Sentiment: Several investors and analysts continue to argue Microsoft remains a strong AI beneficiary, pointing to Azure growth, Copilot adoption, and the company’s scale in enterprise software. Microsoft Rides on Enterprise AI Advancements: More Upside Ahead?

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $398.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $439.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).