Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $500.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $480.00 to $500.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on MSFT. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $465.00 price target (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $402.25 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $414.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $389.01. The company has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $303.40 and a twelve month high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 89.0% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Microsoft

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.