Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by research analysts at RBC Capital in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $63.00 target price on the software giant’s stock, down from their prior target price of $65.00. RBC Capital’s price target indicates a potential upside of 15.15% from the company’s current price.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) opened at 54.71 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $53.72 and a 200 day moving average of $49.62. The company has a market capitalization of $432.72 billion and a P/E ratio of 38.72. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $39.72 and a 52-week high of $56.85.

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

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 16th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%.

MSFT has been the topic of several other reports. Goldman Sachs reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $40.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Vetr downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $58.07 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, December 7th. Pacific Crest reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, December 28th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective (up from $55.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, December 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Sunday, November 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.28.

Several large investors recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Fisher Asset Management raised its stake 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 last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of 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 stake in shares of 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 stake in shares of 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 stake in shares of 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.

In other Microsoft news, insider G Mason Morfit sold 18,650,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.53, for a total transaction of $998,334,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

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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