Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Cut to $500.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price cut by Citigroup from $520.00 to $500.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial reissued a buy rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $487.33.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.1 %

MSFT opened at $408.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $439.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $421.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $309.45 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.