Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Lowered to $475.00 at Citigroup

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective decreased by Citigroup from $480.00 to $475.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on MSFT. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group reiterated a buy rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $432.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $404.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $415.29 and its 200 day moving average is $384.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $275.37 and a 52-week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Bellevue Group AG purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.