Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 0.4% – Time to Buy?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price traded up 0.4% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $391.79 and last traded at $389.43. 3,340,312 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 19,204,838 shares. The stock had previously closed at $387.82.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $410.13 and a 200-day moving average of $420.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) 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 posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. 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.