Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Earns “Buy” Rating from Stifel Nicolaus

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $455.00 target price on the software giant’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.64% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. BNP Paribas raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $434.05.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $407.57 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.85, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $275.37 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $414.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $386.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 2,663 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during 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. Partnership Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC now owns 6,481 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,727,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in 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.