Microsoft’s (MSFT) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus reiterated their buy rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $455.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MSFT. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $434.05.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $409.06 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.99, a PEG ratio of 2.17 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. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $275.37 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $414.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $387.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’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 owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of 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 quarter, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. WJ Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. WJ Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,438 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,611,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the period. Navalign LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. Navalign LLC now owns 7,889 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,668 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 132,839 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,944,000 after acquiring an additional 11,068 shares during the period. Finally, Wade Financial Advisory Inc lifted its position in Microsoft by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wade Financial Advisory Inc now owns 3,595 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. 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.