Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) PT Lowered to $510.00 at UBS Group

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price reduced by stock analysts at UBS Group from $520.00 to $510.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 22.62% from the stock’s previous close.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price target on Microsoft from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $487.74.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $7.01 on Wednesday, reaching $415.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,391,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,632,594. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $309.45 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.03, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $440.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $421.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $35,920,047,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,571,070 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,160,020,000 after acquiring an additional 842,884 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $9,625,201,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 25,505,600 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,591,126,000 after purchasing an additional 277,881 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.