Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Now Covered by Analysts at Westpark Capital

Westpark Capital initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the software giant’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on MSFT. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $508.86.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $382.19 on Tuesday. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $367.24 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $403.52 and its 200-day moving average is $418.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,204,664,000 after buying an additional 49,735 shares in the last quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,837 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,511,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Affinity Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Affinity Wealth Management LLC now owns 33,242 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,304,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.