Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Upgraded to "Outperform" at Oppenheimer

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Oppenheimer from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $600.00 price target on the software giant's stock. Oppenheimer's price objective points to a potential upside of 19.65% from the company's current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.14.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4%

MSFT stock traded down $2.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $501.48. The company had a trading volume of 16,466,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,679,969. 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 50-day moving average price of $469.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $425.41. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $506.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.75, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $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 boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during 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 buying an additional 2,306,485 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.