Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $506.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price lowered by Morgan Stanley from $520.00 to $506.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $485.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a buy rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $487.33.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $408.49 on Wednesday. Microsoft has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $439.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $421.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,686,433. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Financial Security Advisor Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,255,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,089,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Microsoft by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,238,000 after buying an additional 18,200 shares in the last quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,967,000 after buying an additional 6,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after buying an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.