Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Tigress Financial from $366.00 to $411.00 in a report released on Friday, The Fly reports. Tigress Financial’s target price suggests a potential upside of 34.82% from the company’s current price.
A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $320.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 26th. UBS Group set a $360.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 26th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, November 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $400.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.99.
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $3.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $304.85. 493,688 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 46,483,547. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $224.26 and a 52 week high of $349.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $321.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $310.33.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 38.50% and a return on equity of 45.73%. The business had revenue of $51.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 9.22 earnings per share for the current year.
In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 419,292 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.61, for a total value of $144,492,216.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Emma N. Walmsley acquired 1,600 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 31st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $311.53 per share, with a total value of $498,448.00. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bessemer Securities LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 26.8% during the third quarter. Bessemer Securities LLC now owns 48,407 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,647,000 after purchasing an additional 10,243 shares during the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its position in Microsoft by 3.5% during the third quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 1,178,823 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $343,660,000 after purchasing an additional 39,705 shares during the last quarter. Intersect Capital LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the third quarter. Intersect Capital LLC now owns 96,292 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $27,147,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its position in Microsoft by 9.0% during the third quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 2,206,086 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $621,940,000 after purchasing an additional 182,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bickling Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 7.3% during the second quarter. Bickling Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,114 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,927,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. 69.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
About Microsoft
Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of devices and platforms, including Office Commercial, Office Consumer, LinkedIn, and Dynamics business solutions.