Microsoft’s (MSFT) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at Wedbush in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $500.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock. Wedbush’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 25.30% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Barclays lifted their target price on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $441.80.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $399.04 on Friday. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $292.73 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The company has a 50 day moving average of $414.44 and a 200-day moving average of $387.17. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.08, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the third quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,103 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,453,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 65,525 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,689,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 3.8% in the third quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC now owns 52,388 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at about $188,066,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.