MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) Shares Down 11.2% After Insider Selling

MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR)’s stock price fell 11.2% on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $1,645.52 and last traded at $1,704.56. 4,555,914 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 23% from the average session volume of 3,716,061 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,919.16.

Specifically, CEO Phong Le sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $861.24, for a total value of $8,612,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $512,437.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Michael J. Saylor sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.46, for a total transaction of $3,262,300.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phong Le sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $861.24, for a total transaction of $8,612,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 595 shares in the company, valued at $512,437.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 121,396 shares of company stock valued at $87,014,015 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 20.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of MicroStrategy from $1,560.00 to $1,450.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of MicroStrategy in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $990.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of MicroStrategy to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,810.00 price objective on shares of MicroStrategy in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of MicroStrategy from $560.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MicroStrategy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,074.00.

MicroStrategy Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $989.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $648.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.49 and a beta of 2.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The software maker reported $5.62 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $124.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $134.90 million. MicroStrategy had a net margin of 86.47% and a return on equity of 42.81%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MicroStrategy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MicroStrategy in the fourth quarter valued at about $88,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MicroStrategy by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 124 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MicroStrategy by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,151,977 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $727,612,000 after purchasing an additional 24,997 shares during the period. American International Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MicroStrategy by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 6,072 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,835,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of MicroStrategy by 151.6% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 2,750 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the period. 72.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.