Mizuho Raises Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $540.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at Mizuho from $500.00 to $540.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. Mizuho’s target price indicates a potential upside of 5.56% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $581.00 price objective (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.79.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $511.57. The stock had a trading volume of 3,614,580 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,543,534. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $476.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $427.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.55, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $515.46.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for 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%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. 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 quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. 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.