Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 0.4% After Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price shot up 0.4% during trading on Thursday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $550.00 to $595.00. Tigress Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $391.79 and last traded at $389.43. 3,340,312 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 19,204,838 shares. The stock had previously closed at $387.82.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.59.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $408.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $419.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

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.