Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-four research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $618.9667.

Several equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $516.79 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $511.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $478.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Real Talk Capital LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $860,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% in the second quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $457,119,000 after purchasing an additional 33,382 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 39.3% in the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $54,376,000 after purchasing an additional 40,860 shares during the period. Finally, Well Done LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 8.9% in the second quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,930,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.