Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-five analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $467.12.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $465.00 price objective (up from $455.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $5.90 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $446.95. The company had a trading volume of 28,335,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,938,492. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $424.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $409.66. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $456.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant's stock worth $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,160,020,000 after acquiring an additional 842,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,152,647,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

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.