Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $470.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $440.00 to $470.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the topic of several other reports. DA Davidson reiterated a buy rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $471.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Raymond James lifted their target price on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a buy rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $295.25 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $414.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $388.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, 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, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Security Advisor Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,255,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,497,000 after acquiring an additional 5,366 shares during the period. RNC Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,967,000 after acquiring an additional 6,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.7% in the third quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,516,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245 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.