Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given Buy Rating at Truist Financial

Truist Financial reissued their buy rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research report report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $600.00 price target on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a buy rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James restated an outperform rating and set a $480.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $465.83.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $448.37 on Monday. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $450.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The business’s 50-day moving average is $418.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $405.31.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.45 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Financial Security Advisor Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 27,270 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,255,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Rappaport Reiches Capital Management LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,089,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 60.1% during the fourth quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 48,500 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,238,000 after acquiring an additional 18,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RNC Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after acquiring an additional 6,484 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.