Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 0.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 0.4% on Thursday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $550.00 to $595.00. Tigress Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $391.79 and last traded at $389.43. Approximately 3,340,312 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 19,204,838 shares. The stock had previously closed at $387.82.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $510.59.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. BCK Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant's stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant's stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequent Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant's stock worth $853,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1 %

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 $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The business's 50-day moving average is $408.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $419.67.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

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.