Microsoft (MSFT) – Research Analysts’ Recent Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have changed their ratings and price targets for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT):

• 11/5/2024 – Microsoft had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada. They now have a $500.00 price target on the stock.
• 10/31/2024 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $470.00 to $465.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 10/31/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $506.00 to $548.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 10/31/2024 – Microsoft had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Piper Sandler. They now have a $470.00 price target on the stock.
• 10/31/2024 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $500.00 to $495.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 10/31/2024 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at UBS Group AG from $510.00 to $500.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 10/31/2024 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at TD Cowen from $495.00 to $475.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 10/28/2024 – Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Truist Financial Co.. They now have a $600.00 price target on the stock.
• 10/25/2024 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $501.00 to $500.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 10/23/2024 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Citigroup Inc. from $500.00 to $497.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 10/18/2024 – Microsoft had its “underperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush.
• 10/18/2024 – Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company.
• 10/18/2024 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Piper Sandler from $485.00 to $470.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 10/18/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at KeyCorp from $490.00 to $505.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 10/10/2024 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from $515.00 to $500.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 10/8/2024 – Microsoft was downgraded by analysts at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating.
• 10/8/2024 – Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Truist Financial Co.. They now have a $600.00 price target on the stock.
• 9/23/2024 – Microsoft was downgraded by analysts at DA Davidson from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating. They now have a $475.00 price target on the stock.
• 9/17/2024 – Microsoft had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Morgan Stanley. They now have a $506.00 price target on the stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.5 %

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $10.51 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $416.38. 9,795,877 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,436,746. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $422.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $425.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $362.90 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.35, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after acquiring an additional 842,884 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third 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 last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.