MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) Trading Up 8% – Time to Buy?

Shares of MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR) rose 8% on Monday . The company traded as high as $398.68 and last traded at $396.50. Approximately 24,214,007 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 22% from the average daily volume of 19,841,848 shares. The stock had previously closed at $367.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSTR shares. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of MicroStrategy in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of MicroStrategy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of MicroStrategy from $290.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of MicroStrategy from $275.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on MicroStrategy from $300.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MicroStrategy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $479.25.

MicroStrategy Stock Up 8.0 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $363.86 and its 200 day moving average is $235.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $95.02 billion, a PE ratio of -188.18 and a beta of 3.25.

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software maker reported ($1.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($1.44). MicroStrategy had a negative return on equity of 17.31% and a negative net margin of 87.05%. The company had revenue of $116.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($8.98) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew Kang sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.15, for a total transaction of $1,465,755.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,106,372. This represents a 32.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen X. Graham sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.36, for a total transaction of $9,027,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,145,979.20. This trade represents a 74.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 102,000 shares of company stock worth $32,259,177. 9.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MicroStrategy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSTR. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MicroStrategy by 990.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,766,283 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $465,573,000 after purchasing an additional 2,512,645 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MicroStrategy by 587.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 664,261 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $111,994,000 after buying an additional 567,628 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of MicroStrategy by 971.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 639,707 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $107,855,000 after buying an additional 579,994 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of MicroStrategy by 904.7% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 468,200 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $78,939,000 after buying an additional 421,600 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MicroStrategy by 1,077.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 343,164 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $57,857,000 after acquiring an additional 314,007 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.84% of the company’s stock.

About MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy Incorporated provides artificial intelligence-powered enterprise analytics software and services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It offers MicroStrategy ONE, which provides non-technical users with the ability to directly access novel and actionable insights for decision-making; and MicroStrategy Cloud for Government service, which offers always-on threat monitoring that meets the rigorous technical and regulatory needs of governments and financial institutions.