Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 3% Following Analyst Downgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price fell 3% during mid-day trading on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $515.00 to $475.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as low as $379.65 and last traded at $381.42. 7,194,444 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 22,696,354 shares. The stock had previously closed at $393.31.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on MSFT. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.54.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Beck Bode LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 37.3% in the 2nd quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 39,951 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,856,000 after purchasing an additional 10,847 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 19,968 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,310,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 13,899 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,212,000 after buying an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 3.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The business has a fifty day moving average of $416.40 and a 200 day moving average of $421.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

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.