Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $515.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective hoisted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $515.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on MSFT. UBS Group reiterated a buy rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $402.25 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $414.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $389.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $303.40 and a 1-year high of $430.82.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.