Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) PT Raised to $485.00 at Evercore ISI

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price hoisted by investment analysts at Evercore ISI from $475.00 to $485.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 19.36% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MSFT. KeyCorp began coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.61.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $406.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $414.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $388.12. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $295.25 and a 1 year high of $430.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.87% and a net margin of 36.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft will post 11.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 18.4% in the first quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 4,555 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,916,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Tenon Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $1,522,000. Kellett Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the first quarter. Kellett Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,222 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,618,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Phoenix Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 20.4% in the first quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 21,509 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,049,000 after buying an additional 3,644 shares during the period. Finally, Fonville Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 77.6% in the first quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,141 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,004,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the period. 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.