Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) PT Raised to $489.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective increased by research analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $465.00 to $489.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 22.54% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $441.80.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $399.04 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $414.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $387.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.08, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $292.73 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Members Trust Co grew its holdings in Microsoft by 14.8% during the first quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 27,897 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,737,000 after acquiring an additional 3,592 shares during the period. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong boosted its position in Microsoft by 365.1% during the first quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 143,300 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $60,289,000 after purchasing an additional 112,490 shares in the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 63,958 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $26,908,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its position in Microsoft by 19.7% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 147,474 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $60,782,000 after purchasing an additional 24,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.8% during the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 91,404 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $37,253,000 after purchasing an additional 3,319 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.