Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $550.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective increased by Jefferies Financial Group from $475.00 to $550.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush lifted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $435.28 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $384.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $411.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Sequent Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,208 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,380,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverstone Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 4,510 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,941,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.