Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Lowered to $430.00 at Barclays

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price decreased by Barclays from $475.00 to $430.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Westpark Capital began coverage on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $497.63.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $359.12 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $387.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $412.30. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (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 period in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.