Citigroup Cuts Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $497.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target dropped by stock analysts at Citigroup from $500.00 to $497.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 15.50% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $506.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Mizuho upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.58.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $430.30 on Wednesday. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $326.94 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $424.56.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.05. The business 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%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 496,369 shares in the company, valued at $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, Bellevue Group AG grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 58 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.