Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $640.00 at Royal Bank Of Canada

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target boosted by Royal Bank Of Canada from $525.00 to $640.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp raised Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $533.50 on Thursday. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $488.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $434.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.49% and a net margin of 36.15%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,375,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.