Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Increased to $515.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from $450.00 to $515.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price indicates a potential upside of 26.75% from the company’s current price.

MSFT has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $388.12. 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 cap of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a one year low of $295.25 and a one year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 is available at the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total value of $18,530,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Caliber Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.7% during the third quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 65,525 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,689,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.8% during the third quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC now owns 52,388 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $188,066,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.