Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target upped by Piper Jaffray from $64.00 to $66.00 in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. FBR & Co. increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft to $60.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup Inc. raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research note on Friday. Goldman Sachs reissued a hold rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Finally, RBC Capital reissued a buy rating and set a $63.00 price objective (down from $65.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The company presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $57.28.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded down 0.13% during midday trading on Friday, reaching $55.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 33,949,161 shares. The firm has a market capitalization of $435.17 billion and a P/E ratio of 38.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $53.70 and its 200 day moving average is $49.50. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $39.72 and a 52 week high of $56.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 28th. The software giant reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.07. The company earned $25.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft will post $2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 18th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 16th.

In other news, insider G Mason Morfit sold 18,650,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.53, for a total value of $998,334,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Several hedge funds and institutional investors have modified their holdings of MSFT. Fisher Asset Management raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management now owns 18,219,161 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,010,799,000 after buying an additional 242,854 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Microsoft by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 15,197,685 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $843,168,000 after buying an additional 241,480 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its position in Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 14,931,313 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $828,389,000 after buying an additional 78,351 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 12,962,599 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $742,132,000 after buying an additional 278,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,534,512 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $695,415,000 after buying an additional 1,655,964 shares during the last quarter.

Microsoft Corporation is engaged in developing, licensing and supporting a range of software products and services. The Company also designs and sells hardware, and delivers online advertising to the customers. The Company operates in five segments: Devices and Consumer (NASDAQ:MSFT) Licensing, D&C Hardware, D&C Other, Commercial Licensing, and Commercial Other. The Company’s products include operating systems for computing devices, servers, phones, and other intelligent devices; server applications for distributed computing environments; productivity applications; business solution applications; desktop and server management tools; software development tools; video games; and online advertising. It also offers cloud-based solutions that provide customers with software, services and content over the Internet by way of shared computing resources located in centralized data centers. It provides consulting and product and solution support services.

12 Month Chart for NASDAQ:MSFT

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