Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler restated their overweight rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $485.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $465.00.

MSFT has been the subject of several other reports. Macquarie raised their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Bank of America raised their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Argus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $485.53.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $418.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $440.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $419.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was 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 owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were 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 approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 17,187 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,682,000 after buying an additional 553 shares during the period. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,277 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,661,000 after buying an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 81,329 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,350,000 after buying an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 38,547 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,229,000 after purchasing an additional 6,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,489,000. Hedge funds and other 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.