Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Earns Hold Rating from Westpark Capital

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reaffirmed by analysts at Westpark Capital in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

MSFT has been the subject of several other reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $530.00 to $472.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $9.88 on Thursday, hitting $435.28. 30,732,671 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,356,359. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $384.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $411.12. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.94 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% during 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 acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted 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 valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth 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 worth $25,273,704,000 after acquiring 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.