Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $520.00 price target on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $512.66.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $442.33 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $385.58 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $432.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,532,402 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,539 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 7,048,244 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,032,859,000 after buying an additional 2,222,483 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is 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.