Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) PT Raised to $505.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price increased by KeyCorp from $490.00 to $505.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on MSFT. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.68.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $418.78 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $419.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $424.55. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $324.39 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,878,000. Harbor Advisory Corp MA boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Advisory Corp MA now owns 15,692 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,752,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the period. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,620 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,861,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the period. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. now owns 16,583 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,135,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. Finally, RFP Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.7% in the 3rd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 23,934 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,292,000 after purchasing an additional 8,055 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.