Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 0% Following Analyst Downgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares dropped 0% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $530.00 to $472.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as low as $368.63 and last traded at $371.59. Approximately 5,644,752 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 21,197,917 shares. The stock had previously closed at $371.61.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 price target (down previously from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Westpark Capital started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $499.97.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $388.25 and its 200 day moving average is $412.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.