Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $511.62.

A number of analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $417.19 on Tuesday. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $384.81 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $429.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.98.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.