Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $526.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target boosted by Argus from $475.00 to $526.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a buy rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $469.86.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $454.70 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $435.00 and a 200-day moving average of $415.23. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.37, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Pegasus Partners Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Pegasus Partners Ltd. now owns 31,802 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,042,000 after buying an additional 611 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,115 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,457,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. PGIM Custom Harvest LLC now owns 11,325 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,576,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293 shares during the last quarter. Operose Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 7,725 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,031 shares during the period. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 510.1% during the third quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 960,313 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $303,219,000 after buying an additional 802,900 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.