Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Increased to $480.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $460.00 to $480.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an overweight rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Microsoft from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $471.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $431.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $411.84 on Wednesday. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $275.37 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.24, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $415.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $384.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% during the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Powell Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.2% in the first quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 8.2% in the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is 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.