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

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-nine ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty-six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $510.96.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,052,704 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,675,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,579 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $409.75 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $431.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $423.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. 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 has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.03 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

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.