Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 0.1% – Should You Buy?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price traded up 0.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $391.20 and last traded at $390.41. 3,470,304 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 19,257,920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $389.97.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $407.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $419.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.49, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in 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. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after buying an additional 49,735 shares during the period. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 44,685 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,228,000 after buying an additional 3,663 shares during the period. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 9.3% in the third quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 16,731 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,430 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.