Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $655.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price raised by TD Cowen from $640.00 to $655.00 in a report released on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. They currently have a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Arete lifted their target price on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $682.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. HSBC raised their price objective on Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $634.67.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $517.81 on Thursday. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $513.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $487.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. BLVD Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Seek First Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Level Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,333,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 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.