Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Cut to $500.00 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price decreased by Jefferies Financial Group from $550.00 to $500.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the subject of several other research reports. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.86.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $382.14 on Monday. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $367.24 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $402.24 and its 200-day moving average is $418.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after buying an additional 49,735 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA increased its holdings in Microsoft by 3.7% during the third quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 1,381,517 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $594,467,000 after buying an additional 49,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonekeep Investments LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 5.5% during the third quarter. Stonekeep Investments LLC now owns 5,701 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.