Wolfe Research Lowers Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $625.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target decreased by stock analysts at Wolfe Research from $675.00 to $625.00 in a research report issued on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. Wolfe Research’s price target suggests a potential upside of 31.05% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $630.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Melius Research raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Rothschild Redb downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.03.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $476.93 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $504.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $502.65. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently 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.