Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Wedbush

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $500.00 price target on the software giant’s stock. Wedbush’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 23.06% from the stock’s previous close. Wedbush also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.89 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $11.74 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $3.17 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.31 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.32 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $13.29 EPS.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $295.25 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $414.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $388.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 89.0% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by 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.