Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given “Outperform” Rating at Raymond James

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by Raymond James in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $480.00 price target on the software giant’s stock, up from their previous price target of $450.00. Raymond James’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 18.13% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.61.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $414.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $388.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.18, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $295.25 and a 1-year high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% during the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. 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.