Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 1% – Here’s What Happened

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares fell 1% on Friday . The company traded as low as $366.89 and last traded at $367.78. 20,940,221 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 2% from the average session volume of 21,277,339 shares. The stock had previously closed at $371.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Westpark Capital initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $499.97.

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $389.13 and a 200 day moving average of $413.21. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after acquiring an additional 49,735 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.