Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Earns Buy Rating from Royal Bank Of Canada

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a report released on Monday,MarketScreener reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $632.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Baird R W raised Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim set a $675.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Arete Research lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $472.94 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $493.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $504.03. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $9,941,000. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 94,120 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,816,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373 shares in the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% during the second quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $457,119,000 after purchasing an additional 33,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the third quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 285,163 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,700,000 after purchasing an additional 11,770 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).