StockNews.com Upgrades Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to Buy

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $505.43.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $447.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $364.13 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $424.16 and a 200-day moving average of $427.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,819 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,225,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS boosted its stake in Microsoft by 4.5% during the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 44,895 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,318,000 after buying an additional 1,933 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $6,153,000. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 23,905 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,286,000 after acquiring an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,488 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,809,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. 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.