Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given “Neutral” Rating at Guggenheim

Guggenheim restated their neutral rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on MSFT. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Trading Up 7.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $425.40 on Thursday. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The business’s 50-day moving average is $384.18 and its 200 day moving average is $411.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,334,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.