Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 0.9% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price rose 0.9% during trading on Thursday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $475.00 to $515.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $442.97 and last traded at $441.34. Approximately 4,458,568 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 20,514,602 shares. The stock had previously closed at $437.39.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp increased their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $2,645,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after acquiring an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 389.2% in the third quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,137,000 after purchasing an additional 42,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Harbor Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $426.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $428.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.