Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) had its price target upped by Citigroup from $540.00 to $605.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a buy rating on the software giant's stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson raised their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $513.89.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock traded up $6.92 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $479.54. 8,291,510 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,466,882. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $423.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $417.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $479.95. The company has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.61, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in 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 period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. 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.