Wells Fargo & Company set a $82.50 price objective on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research note released on Friday, July 21st. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.
Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) upped their price objective on Microsoft Corporation from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley restated a buy rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft Corporation in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Pacific Crest restated a buy rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft Corporation in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Deutsche Bank AG restated a buy rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft Corporation in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, Morningstar, Inc. restated a buy rating on shares of Microsoft Corporation in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Microsoft Corporation currently has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $76.26.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ MSFT) opened at 72.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $558.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.75 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $72.16 and its 200 day moving average is $68.26. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $55.61 and a one year high of $74.42.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 20th. The software giant reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.27. Microsoft Corporation had a return on equity of 36.81% and a net margin of 23.57%. The business had revenue of $24.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post $3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 15th. Microsoft Corporation’s payout ratio is currently 57.78%.
In other Microsoft Corporation news, insider Jean Philippe Courtois sold 26,763 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $1,980,462.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,080 shares in the company, valued at $40,261,920. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider G Mason Morfit sold 7,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.56, for a total value of $507,920,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,057,855 shares of company stock worth $512,044,578. Corporate insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.
A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Investec Asset Management LTD increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Investec Asset Management LTD now owns 6,338,393 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $393,868,000 after buying an additional 63,333 shares during the last quarter. Investec Asset Management PTY Ltd increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Investec Asset Management PTY Ltd now owns 15,719 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $977,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 3,991,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $248,007,000 after buying an additional 177,684 shares during the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation during the fourth quarter worth approximately $289,000. Finally, Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,964,000. Institutional investors own 72.64% of the company’s stock.
About Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Corporation is a technology company. The Company develops, licenses, and supports a range of software products, services and devices. The Company’s segments include Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud and More Personal Computing. The Company’s products include operating systems; cross-device productivity applications; server applications; business solution applications; desktop and server management tools; software development tools; video games, and training and certification of computer system integrators and developers.
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