Benchmark Reiterates Buy Rating for MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR)

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Benchmark in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $1,875.00 target price on the software maker’s stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 46.21% from the company’s previous close.

MSTR has been the topic of several other reports. BTIG Research increased their price objective on MicroStrategy from $780.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,810.00 target price on shares of MicroStrategy in a report on Thursday, March 28th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of MicroStrategy from $1,560.00 to $1,450.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised MicroStrategy to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,473.00.

MicroStrategy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSTR opened at $1,282.38 on Thursday. MicroStrategy has a twelve month low of $266.00 and a twelve month high of $1,999.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $21.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.51 and a beta of 2.89. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,351.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $806.94.

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The software maker reported $5.62 EPS for the quarter. MicroStrategy had a net margin of 86.47% and a return on equity of 42.81%. The firm had revenue of $124.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.90 million.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Michael J. Saylor sold 1,140 shares of MicroStrategy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,951.33, for a total transaction of $2,224,516.20. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,140 shares in the company, valued at $2,224,516.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Michael J. Saylor sold 1,140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,951.33, for a total transaction of $2,224,516.20. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,224,516.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phong Le sold 10,000 shares of MicroStrategy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $861.24, for a total transaction of $8,612,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $512,437.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 117,452 shares of company stock worth $122,745,797. Company insiders own 13.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Yousif Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MicroStrategy in the 1st quarter worth about $266,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in MicroStrategy in the 1st quarter worth about $104,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in MicroStrategy during the 1st quarter valued at about $341,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of MicroStrategy by 18.4% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,939 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,010,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of MicroStrategy by 2.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 10,296 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $17,550,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.03% of the company’s stock.

MicroStrategy Company Profile

MicroStrategy Incorporated provides artificial intelligence-powered enterprise analytics software and services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It offers MicroStrategy ONE, which provides non-technical users with the ability to directly access novel and actionable insights for decision-making; and MicroStrategy Cloud for Government service, which offers always-on threat monitoring that meets the rigorous technical and regulatory needs of governments and financial institutions.