Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities researchers at Oppenheimer boosted their Q3 2021 earnings per share estimates for Microsoft in a research report issued on Wednesday, October 28th. Oppenheimer analyst T. Horan now anticipates that the software giant will earn $1.59 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $1.58. Oppenheimer has a “Hold” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2021 earnings at $1.73 EPS and FY2021 earnings at $6.77 EPS.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The software giant reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.29. Microsoft had a net margin of 30.96% and a return on equity of 39.45%.
A number of other research firms have also weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. William Blair reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 20th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $260.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $228.18.
MSFT opened at $202.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1,530.77 billion, a PE ratio of 35.21, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $132.52 and a twelve month high of $232.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $210.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $199.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.
Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 103,523,946 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,326,780,000 after buying an additional 3,527,148 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 93,247,848 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,706,128,000 after purchasing an additional 471,612 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,075,509 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,313,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,999 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 32,289,856 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,571,309,000 after purchasing an additional 413,623 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 28,840,717 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,869,374,000 after purchasing an additional 435,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.93% of the company’s stock.
In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 30,871 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.90, for a total value of $6,479,822.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,942.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.70, for a total transaction of $4,846,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 122,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,904,090.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 164,067 shares of company stock valued at $35,247,737 in the last quarter. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 18th. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 35.42%.
About Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, as well as related Client Access Licenses (CAL); Skype, Outlook.com, and OneDrive; LinkedIn that includes Talent, Learning, Sales, and Marketing solutions, as well as premium subscriptions; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for small and medium businesses, large organizations, and divisions of enterprises.
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