Piper Sandler Increases Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $520.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target increased by Piper Sandler from $470.00 to $520.00 in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the subject of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $424.56 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $428.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $371.19 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.