Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Hits New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $381.00 and last traded at $384.79, with a volume of 2698932 shares. The stock had previously closed at $388.49.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.98, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $417.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $422.24.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after buying an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.