Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $470.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $440.00 to $470.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $500.00 target price 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $414.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $387.70. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $295.25 and a 52 week 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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $80,000. 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.