Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Rating Reiterated by Raymond James

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Raymond James in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $480.00 target price on the software giant’s stock, up from their prior target price of $450.00. Raymond James’ price target indicates a potential upside of 18.13% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $406.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $295.25 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $414.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $388.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.71 earnings per share 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 dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at $236,414,839.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $236,414,839.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders 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

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares in the last quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bensler LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 86,932 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $27,449,000 after purchasing an additional 2,674 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% 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.