Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) PT Lowered to $500.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $515.00 to $500.00 in a research note published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a buy rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $493.47.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $416.32 on Thursday. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $324.39 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $417.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $424.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.40%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Bayesian Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 60.1% during the 4th quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,238,000 after buying an additional 18,200 shares in the last quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,545,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,307,487 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $550,086,000 after purchasing an additional 5,253 shares during the last quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 296.7% in the 1st quarter. True Link Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after buying an additional 2,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $9,538,000. 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.