Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $460.00 to $480.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the software giant's stock.
MSFT has been the topic of several other research reports. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an overweight rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group restated a buy rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Barclays raised their price target on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $471.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $431.03.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft
Microsoft Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $2.74 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $411.84. 15,786,067 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,876,643. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.32, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $275.37 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company's 50-day moving average is $415.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $383.95.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.12%.
Insider Activity at Microsoft
In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company's stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant's stock worth $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $68,824,173,000 after buying an additional 1,951,554 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant's stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant's stock worth $50,302,677,000 after buying an additional 556,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after acquiring an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Microsoft
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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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