Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $425.00 Price Target at Wedbush

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target hoisted by Wedbush from $400.00 to $425.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. Wedbush’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.26% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Microsoft from $340.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $385.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $370.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target for the company. Finally, Guggenheim raised shares of Microsoft from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.11.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $5.58 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $375.25. 5,627,934 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,676,199. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $334.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $330.83. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $219.35 and a 1 year high of $376.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.52 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.79% and a net margin of 35.31%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.35 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,941,369.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,963,391.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 26,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.37, for a total value of $8,778,426.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,941,369.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,714,197,000 after purchasing an additional 6,129,708 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,824,173,000 after buying an additional 1,951,554 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $50,302,677,000 after acquiring an additional 556,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after acquiring an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Microsoft

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.