Oppenheimer Raises Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $500.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) had its price target upped by Oppenheimer from $450.00 to $500.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the software giant's stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Raymond James reissued an outperform rating and issued a $480.00 price objective (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $460.56.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $423.85. 13,612,042 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,191,350. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $433.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $416.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $402.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,521 shares of company stock valued at $19,746,476 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $9,625,201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after buying an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth $5,587,119,000. Finally, TCI Fund Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $4,000,376,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.