Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $650.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target boosted by research analysts at Piper Sandler from $600.00 to $650.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the software giant’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target indicates a potential upside of 24.02% from the company’s current price.

MSFT has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $524.11 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $489.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $434.88. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 60,743 shares of company stock valued at $27,520,933. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Level Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during 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.