DA Davidson Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at DA Davidson from $500.00 to $600.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. DA Davidson’s price target suggests a potential upside of 21.94% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $524.71.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $492.05 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $454.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $422.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. Microsoft has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $500.76. The company has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Birchbrook Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,375,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Fosun International Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gagnon Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

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.