DA Davidson Downgrades Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to Neutral

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was downgraded by research analysts at DA Davidson from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $475.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock. DA Davidson’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.68% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also commented on MSFT. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Citigroup cut their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $493.94.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

Microsoft stock opened at $429.17 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $309.45 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $420.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $424.67. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Microsoft news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total transaction of $15,600,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Rebalance LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,542,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 6,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Innova Wealth Partners grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $646,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Partnership Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 25 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.