Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $525.00 price target on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on MSFT. Mizuho raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $450.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $402.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $413.88. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Newton One Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Microsoft

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.