Microsoft Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 525,218 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 59% compared to the typical volume of 330,608 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.16.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0%

MSFT stock opened at $453.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $393.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $412.42. Microsoft has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after buying an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.