Jefferies Financial Group Lowers Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $500.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target reduced by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $550.00 to $500.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 32.00% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on MSFT. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.86.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $378.80 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $372.32 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $405.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $419.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Avondale Wealth Management raised its position in Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during 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.