Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 0.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares rose 0.1% on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $460.00 to $480.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $418.88 and last traded at $414.92. Approximately 3,884,831 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 21,707,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $414.58.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $432.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Bellevue Group AG purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in 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. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $415.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $384.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.12%.

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.