Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Piper Sandler Analyst Says

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target boosted by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $470.00 to $520.00 in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the software giant’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 23.11% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $511.62.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $422.37 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $428.45 and a 200 day moving average of $427.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $369.01 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the second quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 19,653 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,787,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,484,000. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Microsoft by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 85,591 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $38,820,000 after acquiring an additional 5,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 33,420 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,305 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Microsoft

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.