Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives $510.30 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-four ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirty have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $512.63.

Several analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,243 shares of company stock valued at $48,619,618 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Fosun International Ltd grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 3.5% during the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $452.57 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $399.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $413.31. The stock has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

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.