Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Rating Reiterated by Truist Financial

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Truist Financial in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $600.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock. Truist Financial’s target price indicates a potential upside of 34.43% from the company’s previous close.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Microsoft from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.83.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $446.34 on Monday. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $450.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $418.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $405.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Group AG raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 47.5% in the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.