Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $485.00 Price Target at Evercore ISI

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target upped by Evercore ISI from $475.00 to $485.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on MSFT. Macquarie increased their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $402.25 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $414.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $389.01. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $303.40 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The firm has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $80,000. 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.