Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Buy Rating from Truist Financial

Truist Financial restated their buy rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a $600.00 price target on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 6.1 %

MSFT opened at $406.35 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $334.69 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The business’s 50 day moving average is $420.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $424.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.22. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.11%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans 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 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strategic Planning Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 32.0% during the first quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 33,911 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,267,000 after acquiring an additional 8,230 shares during the period. Crane Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 447.9% during the 1st quarter. Crane Advisory LLC now owns 3,364 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Salvus Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,868 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,731,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,475 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,035,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Management Partners LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% during the first quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 23,101 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,719,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. 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.