Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 1.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price rose 1.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday after DA Davidson raised their price target on the stock from $500.00 to $600.00. DA Davidson currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $499.20 and last traded at $498.99. Approximately 5,425,428 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 22,954,635 shares. The stock had previously closed at $491.09.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. UBS Group reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Mizuho lifted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $530.00 price target (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $524.71.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $461.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $423.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.