Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $482.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $472.00 to $482.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the software giant's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.51% from the company's previous close.

MSFT has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $0.89 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $436.17. 20,111,670 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 24,521,264. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $384.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $411.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during 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 in the last quarter. 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 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 buying an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.