Microsoft's (MSFT) "Buy" Rating Reiterated at DA Davidson

DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating for Microsoft, setting a $650 price target, indicating a 35.69% potential upside. Other analysts have varied ratings, with a consensus "Moderate Buy" and a $634.33 price target. Microsoft's stock rose 0.3% to $479.02. Recent insider sales and institutional investments were noted. Microsoft's recent earnings exceeded expectations, with a 18.4% revenue increase year-over-year.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by stock analysts at DA Davidson in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $650.00 price objective on the software giant's stock. DA Davidson's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 35.69% from the company's previous close.

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Several other brokerages also recently commented on MSFT. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Guggenheim set a $675.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $634.33.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

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Shares of MSFT stock traded up $1.29 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $479.02. 11,684,455 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,159,063. The company's 50-day moving average price is $508.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $500.92. The company has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company's stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Microsoft

(Get Free Report)

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.

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