Wedbush Reaffirms "Outperform" Rating for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• Wedbush has reaffirmed an "outperform" rating for Microsoft (MSFT) with a target price of $600.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.08% from the current stock price.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft's stock, with Raymond James setting it at $490.00 and Loop Capital and Piper Sandler targeting $600.00.
• Microsoft's recent earnings report showed $3.46 EPS against a consensus estimate of $3.22, with revenue of $70.07 billion, surpassing expectations.
• Insider selling has occurred recently, with executives Takeshi Numoto and Kathleen T. Hogan decreasing their stakes in the company through notable stock sales.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating restated by Wedbush in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $600.00 target price on the software giant's stock. Wedbush's price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.80% from the stock's current price.

MSFT has been the subject of several other research reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $581.00 price target (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $551.21.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $2.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $513.71. 19,103,456 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,594,816. The company's 50-day moving average is $483.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $431.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.70, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $518.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were 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 owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% during the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.