Microsoft’s (MSFT) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Guggenheim

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at Guggenheim in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $586.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock. Guggenheim’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 53.52% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Argus lowered their price target on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Citizens Jmp initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $555.40.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $381.70 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $398.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $407.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 16.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Platform Technology Partners raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 45,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,070,000 after acquiring an additional 3,167 shares during the period. Financial Perspectives Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.2% in the second quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 35,154 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,113,000 after acquiring an additional 1,725 shares during the period. MBE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.5% in the second quarter. MBE Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,343,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. SWP Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 33.4% in the second quarter. SWP Financial LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 23,516 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,772,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Falling interest rates are supporting technology stocks, potentially improving the valuation of Microsoft and other long-duration growth companies. NVDA, MSFT, and ORCL Forecasts – Tech Stocks Gap Higher as Rates Drop
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft has joined Nvidia, SpaceX and other technology companies in an AI safety initiative to develop open-source tools for defending against AI-related cyberattacks. The effort could strengthen Microsoft’s cybersecurity positioning and industry relationships. Nvidia, SpaceX, Microsoft launch AI safety initiative
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and financial-media coverage continues to describe Microsoft as an attractive value among major AI companies, citing its approximately 23 P/E ratio, Azure expansion and potential upside if AI investments generate stronger returns. Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now: Microsoft or Nvidia?

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).