Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given Outperform Rating at Raymond James

Raymond James reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $480.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $450.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an overweight rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted 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. Truist Financial reissued a buy rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a buy rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $387.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a one year low of $295.25 and a one year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. Microsoft’s quarterly 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. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $4,000,376,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.