BMO Capital Markets Raises Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $500.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $465.00 to $500.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $470.86.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3 %

MSFT opened at $453.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $435.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $416.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,887,020 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $595,827,000 after buying an additional 26,718 shares during the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $1,455,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Microsoft by 22.9% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 172,423 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $54,443,000 after buying an additional 32,072 shares during the last quarter. Savoie Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $8,418,000. Finally, Kampmann Melissa S. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $4,609,000. 71.13% of the stock is 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.