Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $470.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $440.00 to $470.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an overweight rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $414.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $387.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $295.25 and a 1 year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,000,376,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. 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.