Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Rating Reiterated by Piper Sandler

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by research analysts at Piper Sandler in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $465.00 price target on the software giant’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective points to a potential upside of 2.10% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. KeyCorp began coverage on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.86.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $0.74 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $455.44. 8,418,792 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,551,813. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $435.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $415.23. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $309.45 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.38, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.