Microsoft’s (MSFT) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus reiterated their buy rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $455.00 target price on the software giant’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Macquarie upped their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $471.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. KeyCorp started coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an overweight rating and a $490.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $409.06 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $414.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $387.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $275.37 and a 52-week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 89.0% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.