Analysts Set Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) PT at $430.52

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $430.52.

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Macquarie boosted their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Microsoft from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $414.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $415.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $383.95. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $275.37 and a twelve month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 2,663 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $646,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sicart Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 926 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.