Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 1.7% After Analyst Downgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $530.00 to $472.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as low as $375.90 and last traded at $379.04. Approximately 4,305,116 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 21,165,243 shares. The stock had previously closed at $385.73.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on MSFT. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $499.97.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,399,000 after acquiring an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Campbell Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,314,000. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 42,176 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,148,000 after buying an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $390.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $413.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

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, 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

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.