Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 0.7% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price rose 0.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Loop Capital raised their price target on the stock from $500.00 to $550.00. Loop Capital currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $438.67 and last traded at $438.43. Approximately 2,429,841 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 20,688,719 shares. The stock had previously closed at $435.25.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $62,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $427.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.