DA Davidson Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by research analysts at DA Davidson from $450.00 to $500.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the software giant's stock. DA Davidson's price target indicates a potential upside of 17.54% from the company's current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Mizuho increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock traded up $30.14 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $425.40. 58,840,495 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,314,052. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $383.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $410.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

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.

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