Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on MSFT. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Raymond James lifted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $436.17. 20,112,843 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,367,112. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock's 50 day moving average is $385.66 and its 200 day moving average is $411.17. The company has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth 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 boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 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.

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