Microsoft’s (MSFT) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus reiterated their buy rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $455.00 target price on the software giant’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on MSFT. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Raymond James increased their price target on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $471.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $400.96 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $414.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $386.37. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $275.37 and a 1 year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. WJ Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 4.8% during the third quarter. WJ Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,438 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,611,000 after buying an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Navalign LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 26.8% during the third quarter. Navalign LLC now owns 7,889 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,491,000 after buying an additional 1,668 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 9.1% during the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 132,839 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,944,000 after buying an additional 11,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wade Financial Advisory Inc raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the third quarter. Wade Financial Advisory Inc now owns 3,595 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.