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

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by equities researchers at DA Davidson from $500.00 to $600.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the software giant's stock. DA Davidson's price target points to a potential upside of 22.18% from the stock's previous close.

MSFT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho raised their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $524.71.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2%

Microsoft stock traded down $0.96 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $491.09. 16,307,938 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,645,075. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $454.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $422.57. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $500.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.95, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares during the period. 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.