Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Rating Reiterated by Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $500.00 price objective 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.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. 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 fifty day moving average price of $414.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $387.70. Microsoft has a one year low of $295.25 and a one year high of $430.82. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given 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 payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the 1st 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 period. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is 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.