Microsoft’s (MSFT) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank Of Canada reissued their buy rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a report released on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Guggenheim set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn restated a “neutral” rating and set a $500.00 price target (down from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. Rothschild Redb cut shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.33.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $472.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day moving average is $512.88 and its 200-day moving average is $498.37. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 386.7% during the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.