UBS Group Has Lowered Expectations for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target decreased by analysts at UBS Group from $525.00 to $510.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. UBS Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 22.87% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on MSFT. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.0 %

MSFT stock opened at $415.06 on Thursday. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $385.58 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $432.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $424.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.38% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 12.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % 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, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Joel Adams & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $720,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 148,268 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $62,495,000 after purchasing an additional 2,349 shares during the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,090,000 after purchasing an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 54.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Advisors Asset Management LLC now owns 1,049 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Timber Creek Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 39,541 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,667,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. 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.