Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Earns Overweight Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $465.00 target price on the software giant’s stock, up from their previous target price of $455.00.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an overweight rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $402.25 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $414.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $389.01. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $303.40 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. 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 stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 89.0% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.