On February 24, 2023 at 09:47:01 (ET) an unusually large $10,716.00K block of Call contracts in Microsoft (MSFT) was sold, with a strike price of $245.00 / share, expiring in 21 days (on March 17, 2023). Fintel tracks all large options trades, and the premium spent on this trade was 17.39 sigmas above the mean, placing it in the 100.00 percentile of all recent large trades made in MSFT options.

Analyst Price Forecast Suggests 14.45% Upside

As of February 24, 2023, the average one-year price target for Microsoft is $291.57. The forecasts range from a low of $214.12 to a high of $365.40. The average price target represents an increase of 14.45% from its latest reported closing price of $254.77.

The projected annual revenue for Microsoft is $216,709MM, an increase of 6.18%. The projected annual EPS is $9.74, an increase of 7.86%.

What is the Fund Sentiment?

There are 6933 funds or institutions reporting positions in Microsoft. This is an increase of 133 owner(s) or 1.96% in the last quarter. Average portfolio weight of all funds dedicated to MSFT is 2.85%, a decrease of 15.42%. Total shares owned by institutions increased in the last three months by 0.45% to 6,034,500K shares. The put/call ratio of MSFT is 0.82, indicating a bullish outlook.

What are large shareholders doing?

VTSMX – Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares holds 222,314K shares representing 2.99% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 220,246K shares, representing an increase of 0.93%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in MSFT by 4.59% over the last quarter.

VFINX – Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares holds 169,063K shares representing 2.27% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 165,542K shares, representing an increase of 2.08%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in MSFT by 4.23% over the last quarter.

Price T Rowe Associates holds 168,647K shares representing 2.27% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 171,347K shares, representing a decrease of 1.60%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in MSFT by 0.93% over the last quarter.

Geode Capital Management holds 142,731K shares representing 1.92% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 139,462K shares, representing an increase of 2.29%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in MSFT by 2.57% over the last quarter.

Jpmorgan Chase & holds 93,021K shares representing 1.25% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 92,745K shares, representing an increase of 0.30%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in MSFT by 5.19% over the last quarter.

Microsoft Declares $0.68 Dividend

On November 29, 2022 the company declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.68 per share ($2.72 annualized). Shareholders of record as of February 16, 2023 will receive the payment on March 9, 2023. Previously, the company paid $0.62 per share.

At the current share price of $254.77 / share, the stock’s dividend yield is 1.07%. Looking back five years and taking a sample every week, the average dividend yield has been 1.21%, the lowest has been 0.72%, and the highest has been 1.95%. The standard deviation of yields is 0.33 (n=236).

The current dividend yield is 0.41 standard deviations below the historical average.

Additionally, the company’s dividend payout ratio is 0.30. The payout ratio tells us how much of a company’s income is paid out in dividends. A payout ratio of one (1.0) means 100% of the company’s income is paid in a dividend. A payout ratio greater than one means the company is dipping into savings in order to maintain its dividend – not a healthy situation. Companies with few growth prospects are expected to pay out most of their income in dividends, which typically means a payout ratio between 0.5 and 1.0. Companies with good growth prospects are expected to retain some earnings in order to invest in those growth prospects, which translates to a payout ratio of zero to 0.5.

The company’s 3-Year dividend growth rate is 0.33%, demonstrating that it has increased its dividend over time.

Microsoft Background Information
(This description is provided by the company.)

Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

This article originally appeared on Fintel