Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Cut to $540.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $548.00 to $540.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $512.66.

Microsoft Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $446.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.82, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $429.65 and a 200 day moving average of $425.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 12.92 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Orca Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $828,000. Kennedy Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 5,953 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,509,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Microsoft by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 20,333 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,571,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110 shares in the last quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning raised its position in Microsoft by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 10,778 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,543,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the period. Finally, Bensler LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 109,101 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,986,000 after purchasing an additional 10,252 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.