Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $585.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective upped by Bank of America from $515.00 to $585.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on MSFT. UBS Group reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush upped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.79.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Microsoft stock opened at $510.05 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $477.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $514.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares in 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.