Oppenheimer Boosts Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $500.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective raised by Oppenheimer from $450.00 to $500.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $480.00 price objective (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson reissued a buy rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Macquarie increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $460.56.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $423.85 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $416.20 and a 200 day moving average of $402.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $309.45 and a 52-week high of $433.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.89.

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. 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 analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value 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 approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total transaction of $134,145.20. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Railway Pension Investments Ltd raised its position in Microsoft by 7.4% during the first quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 615,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $258,911,000 after acquiring an additional 42,600 shares during the period. Objective Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 4.1% during the first quarter. Objective Capital Management LLC now owns 7,931 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,337,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the period. Tactive Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 177.8% during the first quarter. Tactive Advisors LLC now owns 6,596 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,775,000 after acquiring an additional 4,222 shares during the period. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 15.9% during the first quarter. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 21,458 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,898,000 after acquiring an additional 2,948 shares during the period. Finally, First Citizens Financial Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the first quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 7,533 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,169,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. 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.