Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $480.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $460.00 to $480.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on MSFT. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a buy rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $432.13.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $399.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.09, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. Microsoft has a one year low of $275.37 and a one year high of $430.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $414.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $384.83.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. Bellevue Group AG bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 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.