Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target lifted by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 14.87% from the stock’s previous close.

MSFT has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Microsoft from $435.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $435.28 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $384.93 and a 200-day moving average of $411.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares during the period. Campbell Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,314,000. Centric Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.