Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Buy Rating from UBS Group

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at UBS Group in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $480.00 target price on the software giant’s stock. UBS Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 12.17% from the company’s current price.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Microsoft from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Macquarie raised their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $430.26.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $427.93 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.69, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $275.37 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $414.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $380.86.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Bellevue Group AG acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, Atlantic Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 534.5% in the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.