Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives $510.96 Average Target Price from Analysts

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $510.96.

Several analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $412.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $431.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $423.41. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total value of $423,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,763,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $3,413,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 46.4% during the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,500 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,526,000 after buying an additional 10,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.