Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Rating Reiterated by Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $465.00 target price on the software giant’s stock, up from their previous target price of $455.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MSFT. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an overweight rating and a $490.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $295.25 and a twelve month high of $430.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $414.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $388.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft will post 11.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Security Advisor Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,255,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,497,000 after acquiring an additional 5,366 shares during the last quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.