Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Downgraded to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $397.12 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $420.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $422.62. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total transaction of $874,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 51,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,675,916.64. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,000 shares of company stock worth $3,070,340. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,240,000. Element Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 264.9% during the 2nd quarter. Element Capital Management LLC now owns 48,321 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,597,000 after acquiring an additional 35,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV grew its position in Microsoft by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV now owns 5,559 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,484,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by 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.