Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $489.00 Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective increased by Sanford C. Bernstein from $465.00 to $489.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the software giant’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on MSFT. Raymond James raised their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Macquarie raised their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $414.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $387.70. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $295.25 and a 12-month high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of 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. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. 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.