Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $634.3333.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial increased their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Rothschild Redb downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $500.00 target price (down previously from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Severin Investments LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 46.1% in the third quarter. Severin Investments LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 439,993 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $227,895,000 after purchasing an additional 11,017 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 107,733 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $55,824,000 after purchasing an additional 5,994 shares during the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.5% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,519,161 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,304,799,000 after purchasing an additional 131,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Innova Wealth Partners increased its position in Microsoft by 2.6% during the third quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 6,072 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,145,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $480.84 on Friday. Microsoft has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $507.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $500.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.89%.

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.