Insider Buying: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Insider Acquires $1,450,201.32 in Stock

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) insider Bradford Smith purchased 3,842 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $377.46 per share, for a total transaction of $1,450,201.32. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 455,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $171,910,004.94. The trade was a 0.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $478.53 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $504.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $502.65. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.03, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Arete Research lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $632.34.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.