Investment Analysts’ Weekly Ratings Changes for Microsoft (MSFT)

A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) recently:

• 4/26/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $480.00 to $500.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/26/2024 – Microsoft had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Piper Sandler. They now have a $465.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $455.00.
• 4/26/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $440.00 to $470.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/26/2024 – Microsoft had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Raymond James. They now have a $480.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $450.00.
• 4/26/2024 – Microsoft had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush. They now have a $500.00 price target on the stock.
• 4/26/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $465.00 to $489.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 4/26/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Evercore ISI from $475.00 to $485.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 4/26/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from $450.00 to $515.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/22/2024 – Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus. They now have a $455.00 price target on the stock.
• 4/18/2024 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Citigroup Inc. from $480.00 to $475.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/17/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $460.00 to $480.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/12/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $455.00 to $465.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 4/11/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $465.00 to $520.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/10/2024 – Microsoft had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush. They now have a $500.00 price target on the stock.
• 4/10/2024 – Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at UBS Group AG. They now have a $480.00 price target on the stock.
• 4/1/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. from $465.00 to $550.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 3/26/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Wedbush from $475.00 to $500.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 3/25/2024 – Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Truist Financial Co.. They now have a $600.00 price target on the stock.
• 3/21/2024 – Microsoft is now covered by analysts at KeyCorp. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target on the stock.
• 3/15/2024 – Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at DA Davidson. They now have a $500.00 price target on the stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $406.66 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $413.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $390.88. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $303.40 and a 52-week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were 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 owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 133.9% during the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 6,272 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,980,000 after purchasing an additional 3,591 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 22,620 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,142,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 34,013 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,740,000 after purchasing an additional 9,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1900 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,047 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,435,000 after purchasing an additional 2,629 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.