Raymond James Financial Increases Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $570.00

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial has raised Microsoft's price target from $490.00 to $570.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.67% from its previous close.
• Microsoft's recent earnings report showed a revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and marking a 13.3% year-over-year increase.
• Institutional investors hold 71.13% of Microsoft's stock, indicating strong institutional support and investment interest in the company.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by Raymond James Financial from $490.00 to $570.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the software giant's stock. Raymond James Financial's price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.67% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on MSFT. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $555.86.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6%

MSFT stock traded down $3.27 during trading on Monday, reaching $510.44. 7,918,698 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,153,820. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $518.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $483.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $431.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in 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.

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