Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives $524.71 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-three analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty-nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $524.71.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $530.00 price objective (up previously from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's 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 directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,374,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,306,485 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $1.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $496.62. 11,831,573 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,644,968. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $500.76. The company has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $463.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $423.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

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.