Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) PT Raised to $500.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target raised by Wedbush from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on MSFT. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $471.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. China Renaissance began coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, December 5th. They issued a buy rating and a $466.00 price target on the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $433.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 29th. Barclays lifted their price target on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an overweight rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $423.34.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $420.72 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $410.82 and its 200-day moving average is $374.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a one year low of $275.37 and a one year high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22.

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 firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.63 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Cadian Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 15.1% during the second quarter. Cadian Capital Management LP now owns 107,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,438,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.2% during the second quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. now owns 5,075 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,728,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 82,267 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,976,000 after acquiring an additional 3,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HS Management Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 18.0% in the third quarter. HS Management Partners LLC now owns 298,208 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $94,159,000 after acquiring an additional 45,560 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.