Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Microsoft Corporation's stock has been rated as a "Moderate Buy" by analysts, with an average twelve-month target price of $618.47.
• The company has recently amended its quarterly dividend, increasing it from $0.83 to $0.91, highlighting a continuing commitment to returning value to shareholders.
• In its latest earnings report, Microsoft beat expectations with $3.65 earnings per share and revenue of $76.44 billion, indicating robust growth.

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the thirty-four brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-one have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $618.4667.

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $513.43 on Thursday. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $512.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $473.79.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is 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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