On May 15, 2023 at 10:33:05 ET an unusually large $1,992.06K block of Call contracts in Microsoft (MSFT) was bought, with a strike price of $310.00 / share, expiring in 123 day(s) (on September 15, 2023). Fintel tracks all large options trades, and the premium spent on this trade was 3.13 sigmas above the mean, placing it in the 99.93th percentile of all recent large trades made in MSFT options.

This trade was first picked up on Fintel’s real time Options Flow tool, where unusual option trades are highlighted.

What is the Fund Sentiment?

There are 6985 funds or institutions reporting positions in Microsoft. This is an increase of 138 owner(s) or 2.02% in the last quarter. Average portfolio weight of all funds dedicated to MSFT is 3.28%, an increase of 24.82%. Total shares owned by institutions increased in the last three months by 0.27% to 6,017,563K shares. The put/call ratio of MSFT is 0.98, indicating a bullish outlook.

Analyst Price Forecast Suggests 9.31% Upside

As of May 10, 2023, the average one-year price target for Microsoft is 337.73. The forecasts range from a low of 234.32 to a high of $420.00. The average price target represents an increase of 9.31% from its latest reported closing price of 308.97.

See our leaderboard of companies with the largest price target upside.

The projected annual revenue for Microsoft is 216,709MM, an increase of 4.39%. The projected annual non-GAAP EPS is 9.74.

What are Other Shareholders Doing?

Ofi Invest Asset Management holds 243,014K shares representing 3.27% ownership of the company.

VTSMX – Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares holds 226,595K shares representing 3.05% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 222,314K shares, representing an increase of 1.89%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in MSFT by 3.08% over the last quarter.

VFINX – Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares holds 172,327K shares representing 2.32% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 169,063K shares, representing an increase of 1.89%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in MSFT by 3.31% 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 144,366K shares representing 1.94% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 142,731K shares, representing an increase of 1.13%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in MSFT by 12.46% over the last quarter.

Microsoft Declares $0.68 Dividend

On March 14, 2023 the company declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.68 per share ($2.72 annualized). Shareholders of record as of May 18, 2023 will receive the payment on June 8, 2023. Previously, the company paid $0.68 per share.

At the current share price of $308.97 / share, the stock’s dividend yield is 0.88%.

Looking back five years and taking a sample every week, the average dividend yield has been 1.17%, the lowest has been 0.72%, and the highest has been 1.95%. The standard deviation of yields is 0.31 (n=236).

The current dividend yield is 0.93 standard deviations below the historical average.

Additionally, the company’s dividend payout ratio is 0.29. 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.

See all Microsoft regulatory filings.

This article originally appeared on Fintel

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