Microsoft’s (MSFT) “Overweight” Rating Reaffirmed at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $465.00 price target on the software giant’s stock, up from their prior price target of $455.00.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a buy rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $414.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $387.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $295.25 and a 52 week high of $430.82.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 65,525 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,689,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC now owns 52,388 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922 shares during the period. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $188,066,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.