The Goldman Sachs Group Boosts Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $515.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $515.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MSFT. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Microsoft from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $471.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a buy rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $295.25 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $414.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $387.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 38.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. 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 worth $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in Microsoft by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth $80,000. 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.