Wall Street Zen Upgrades Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to "Buy"

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MSFT. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 price target (up from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. TD Securities upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $3.21 on Thursday, hitting $455.78. 6,538,388 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,492,730. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $399.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $413.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,243 shares of company stock valued at $48,619,618 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.4% in the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,334,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.

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