Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Piper Sandler Analyst Says

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) had its price target raised by Piper Sandler from $475.00 to $600.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the software giant's stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $534.14.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT traded up $1.60 during trading on Thursday, reaching $503.08. 9,700,969 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,632,245. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $506.78. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $469.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $425.41. The company has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.88, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. 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.