Citigroup Trims Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Target Price to $500.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price reduced by Citigroup from $520.00 to $500.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $487.33.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $408.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Microsoft has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $468.35. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $439.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $421.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 35.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.60, for a total value of $134,145.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,686,433. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Sweet Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 15,174 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,706,000 after acquiring an additional 1,157 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,990 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,262 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,227,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. IAM Advisory LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. IAM Advisory LLC now owns 9,509 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,576,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kraematon Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Kraematon Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,921 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently 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.