Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Raymond James upped their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $515.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $474.96 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $428.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $418.55. The company has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $480.42.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 47,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Newton One Investments LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $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.