Wells Fargo & Company Increases Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $480.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $460.00 to $480.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the software giant’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 18.73% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $432.13.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $404.27 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $415.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $384.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $275.37 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.78, for a total transaction of $18,530,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $236,414,839.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after acquiring an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,824,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,554 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,302,677,000 after acquiring an additional 556,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,017,948,000 after purchasing an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.