Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-four ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $510.30.

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 94,243 shares of company stock valued at $41,288,738 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

MSFT opened at $454.27 on Monday. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $395.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $412.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.