Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 0.2% on Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose 0.2% during mid-day trading on Monday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $455.00 to $465.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $426.82 and last traded at $422.64. Approximately 4,459,107 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 21,812,117 shares. The stock had previously closed at $421.90.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays upped their price target on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $430.52.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Bellevue Group AG bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. Finally, Atlantic Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 534.5% in the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3 %

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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $415.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $382.55.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.32 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.12%.

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.