Truist Financial Reiterates Buy Rating for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

by · The Markets Daily

Truist Financial reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $600.00 target price on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on MSFT. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler reissued an overweight rating and set a $485.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $493.47.

Get Our Latest Report on Microsoft

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $416.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $417.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $424.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $324.39 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $64.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,784,292.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 37,612 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,144,000 after buying an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 3,027,214 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,138,354,000 after buying an additional 43,152 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,416,509 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,293,064,000 after buying an additional 104,263 shares in the last quarter. Ratio Wealth Group raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Ratio Wealth Group now owns 3,915 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,472,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $132,884,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Microsoft

(Get Free Report)

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.

Read More