TD Securities Raises Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $490.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) had its target price lifted by TD Securities from $475.00 to $490.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the software giant's stock.

MSFT has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America cut their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $9.88 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $435.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 30,732,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,372,060. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $384.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $411.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced 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 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Campbell Wealth Management bought a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth $3,314,000. Centric Wealth Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,789,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1900 Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

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.