Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) PT Raised to $515.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $500.00 to $515.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 24th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Argus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $487.33.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $408.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.27. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $439.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $421.76.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Business Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.3% during the second quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,106 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,092,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. SouthState Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 201,661 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $90,133,000 after buying an additional 5,540 shares during the last quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 72,133 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,098,000 after buying an additional 6,856 shares during the period. Nottingham Advisors Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 56.3% during the second quarter. Nottingham Advisors Inc. now owns 10,242 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,578,000 after acquiring an additional 3,690 shares during the period. Finally, First Dallas Securities Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 25.9% during the second quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 20,433 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,133,000 after acquiring an additional 4,199 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.