Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $465.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective hoisted by BMO Capital Markets from $455.00 to $465.00 in a report published on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Macquarie increased their price target on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a buy rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $430.52.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $413.64 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $415.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $383.26. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $275.37 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Bellevue Group AG purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Atlantic Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 534.5% during the second quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. 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.