JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $470.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target upped by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $440.00 to $470.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the software giant’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 15.67% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on MSFT. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Barclays upped their target price on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $295.25 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $414.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $388.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares in the last quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its holdings in Microsoft by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bensler LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 86,932 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $27,449,000 after purchasing an additional 2,674 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.