Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Upgraded at DA Davidson

DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. DA Davidson currently has $450.00 target price on the software giant’s stock, up from their previous target price of $425.00.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.43.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.6 %

MSFT stock opened at $388.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $412.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $420.59. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $376.91 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 previous year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.