BMO Capital Markets Has Lowered Expectations for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective lowered by BMO Capital Markets from $490.00 to $470.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 target price (down previously from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $499.97.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $367.78 on Wednesday. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $388.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $412.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 144.4% in the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.