Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) had its target price upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the software giant's stock.
Several other research firms have also weighed in on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $430.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America lowered their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Up 2.3 %
Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $9.88 during trading on Thursday, reaching $435.28. The company 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 quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm's fifty day moving average is $384.93 and its 200-day moving average is $411.12. The company has a market cap 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.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after acquiring an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Campbell Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth $3,314,000. Centric Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, 1900 Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Microsoft
(
Get Free Report)
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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