Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target on the software giant’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective points to a potential upside of 20.12% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.59.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $391.26 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $408.82 and its 200 day moving average is $419.65. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $376.91 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 7.6% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Campbell Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,314,000. Finally, Evernest Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 389.2% in the third quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 53,770 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,137,000 after acquiring an additional 42,778 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.