Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Downgraded by Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $493.47.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4 %

Microsoft stock opened at $415.84 on Tuesday. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $324.39 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $417.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $424.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Microsoft by 77.6% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after buying an additional 2,744,900 shares during the period. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $989,814,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.