Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $605.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target upped by Citigroup from $540.00 to $605.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $515.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $474.96 on Wednesday. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $480.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $428.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $418.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total transaction of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.