Microsoft’s (MSFT) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Cantor Fitzgerald

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $509.00 price target on the software giant’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target indicates a potential upside of 22.65% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on MSFT. StockNews.com upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.72.

Microsoft Trading Down 6.2 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $414.99 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $432.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $424.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90. 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 has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,763,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,277 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,661,000 after acquiring an additional 876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 17,187 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,682,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.