Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives $467.12 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirty-three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $467.12.

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 24th.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $460.77 on Friday. Microsoft has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $461.02. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $427.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $411.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.