Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, BMO Capital Markets Analyst Says

Key Points

• BMO Capital Markets has raised its price target for Microsoft (MSFT) from $550 to $650, suggesting a potential upside of 26.65% from the previous close.
• Other analysts have also upgraded their price targets for Microsoft, with Piper Sandler raising it to $600 and Citigroup to $613, reflecting strong market sentiment.
• Microsoft reported a quarterly earnings per share of $3.65, surpassing analyst expectations of $3.35, driven by a revenue of $76.44 billion, marking an 18.1% year-over-year increase.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) had its price target lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $550.00 to $650.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the software giant's stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.1%

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $5.76 on Thursday, reaching $527.74. The company had a trading volume of 5,430,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,267,000. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company's fifty day moving average is $488.46 and its 200 day moving average is $434.13. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.49% and a net margin of 36.15%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,743 shares of company stock valued at $27,520,933 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,375,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.