Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $525.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) had its price target boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $500.00 to $525.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the software giant's stock.

MSFT has been the topic of several other research reports. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $435.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $9.88 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $435.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 30,732,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,356,359. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $384.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $411.12. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS 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 company 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 firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.