Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Downgraded by DA Davidson

DA Davidson cut shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $475.00 price target on the software giant’s stock. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q1 2025 earnings at $2.96 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler restated an overweight rating and set a $485.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an overweight rating and set a $506.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $493.94.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.7 %

MSFT opened at $432.11 on Monday. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $309.45 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $420.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total transaction of $7,157,129.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 150,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,843,807.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.