Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) PT Raised to $515.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price hoisted by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $515.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 29.06% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $441.80.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.4 %

Microsoft stock opened at $399.04 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $414.44 and its 200-day moving average is $387.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.08, a P/E/G 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $9,625,201,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.