Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Outperform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $500.00 price target on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $487.33.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $408.49 on Wednesday. Microsoft has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $439.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $421.76.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at $19,686,433. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first 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 last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $75,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.