Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Upgraded at Oppenheimer

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Oppenheimer from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $600.00 target price on the software giant's stock. Oppenheimer's price target points to a potential upside of 19.87% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $531.82.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $2.97 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $500.54. 8,019,488 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,717,383. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.68, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $506.78. The firm's 50 day moving average is $467.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $424.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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 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 prior year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in 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 last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in 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 last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.