Brokerages Set Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Target Price at $457.91

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-four analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirty-two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $457.91.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 12th.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $1.61 on Monday, hitting $413.52. The company had a trading volume of 17,439,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,428,955. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $416.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $401.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $433.60.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

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

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.