Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Earns Buy Rating from DA Davidson

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at DA Davidson in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $550.00 price target on the software giant’s stock. DA Davidson’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 42.54% from the stock’s current price.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. New Street Research lowered their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Arete Research boosted their target price on Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 24th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.75.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.2%

Microsoft stock traded down $4.64 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $385.85. The stock had a trading volume of 16,712,039 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,852,098. Microsoft has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $406.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $417.46. The company has a market capitalization of $2.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the third quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 700 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pollock Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,453,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains supportive, with multiple firms reiterating buy/overweight ratings and one report saying Microsoft’s AI infrastructure buildout and Azure growth continue to justify a bullish view on the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s push to unify and simplify Copilot may improve product clarity and customer adoption over time, which could help its AI platform strategy. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Some commentary argues Microsoft remains undervalued relative to its AI opportunities and could benefit from continued OpenAI-related upside and strong cloud demand.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also facing fresh securities-fraud lawsuit headlines tied to past AI disclosures, which adds legal overhang but is not the main driver of today’s trading.
• Negative Sentiment: The biggest drag today is the announced 4,800-job reduction, especially the deep cuts in Xbox, which signals ongoing weakness in the gaming unit and raises concern about restructuring costs. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is cutting thousands of Xbox jobs and spinning off studios suggest the gaming division is under pressure from weak demand and poor economics. Article Title

About Microsoft

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).