Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Lowered to $500.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $515.00 to $500.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the software giant's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $502.83.

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Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $2.08 during trading on Monday, hitting $385.73. 17,146,935 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,230,182. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $2.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $390.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $413.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 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.