Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-four ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $510.30.

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $454.27 on Monday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $395.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $412.34. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 94,243 shares of company stock worth $41,288,738. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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