Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Rating Reiterated by Stifel Nicolaus

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $455.00 price target on the software giant’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 11.64% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on MSFT. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.05.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $407.57 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $414.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $386.93. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $275.37 and a fifty-two week high of $430.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $69,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.