Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 0.2% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares rose 0.2% on Monday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $455.00 to $465.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $426.82 and last traded at $422.64. Approximately 4,459,107 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 21,812,117 shares. The stock had previously closed at $421.90.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. 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 report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $420.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $430.52.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after purchasing an additional 150,053,637 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,625,201,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 35,465.9% in the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $66,852,000 after acquiring an additional 20,553,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $415.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $383.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

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.