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

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-five analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $467.12.

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $452.85 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.21, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day moving average is $422.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $408.83. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $456.17.

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. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft 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 transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft 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 transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Bellevue Group AG grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.