Microsoft Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.83 (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, June 10th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of 0.83 per share by the software giant on Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%.

Microsoft has a dividend payout ratio of 21.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Microsoft to earn $14.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.6%.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $2.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $472.93. The company had a trading volume of 1,555,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,434,528. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $420.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $417.46. The stock has a market cap of $3.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.09, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $473.58.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $513.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the 4th 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 valued at $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth approximately $18,733,827,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,338,953 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,521,349,000 after buying an additional 6,101,005 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.