Microsoft’s (MSFT) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Westpark Capital

Westpark Capital reissued their hold rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts have also commented on MSFT. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.86.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $524.11 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $489.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $434.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The business’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.