Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given Outperform Rating at Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $500.00 price target on the software giant’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.89 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $11.74 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $3.17 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.31 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.32 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $13.29 EPS.

MSFT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Microsoft from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $471.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. 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 cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a one year low of $295.25 and a one year high of $430.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $414.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $387.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS 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 net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend 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 Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased 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 buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth 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.