Evercore ISI Issues Positive Forecast for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price

Key Points

• Evercore ISI has raised its price target for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) from $515.00 to $545.00, maintaining an "outperform" rating.
• Loop Capital boosted its price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00, indicating strong market confidence with a "buy" rating.
• Microsoft recently reported impressive quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $3.46, exceeding analyst expectations by $0.24 and a revenue of $70.07 billion.
• Currently, Microsoft holds a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts, with an average price target of $551.21.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) had its price target hoisted by Evercore ISI from $515.00 to $545.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the software giant's stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on MSFT. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $551.21.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $2.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $513.71. 19,103,456 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,594,816. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $518.29. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $483.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $431.47.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

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.