Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 3% on Analyst Downgrade

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 3% during trading on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $515.00 to $475.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as low as $379.65 and last traded at $381.42. 7,194,444 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 22,696,354 shares. The stock had previously closed at $393.31.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $509.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.54.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Beck Bode LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 37.3% during the second quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 39,951 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,856,000 after purchasing an additional 10,847 shares in the last quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 8.1% during the second quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 29,305 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,098,000 after buying an additional 2,188 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Wealth Management raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.7% in the second quarter. Westwood Wealth Management now owns 27,622 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,346,000 after buying an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $415.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $421.54. The company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

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.