Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Cut to $497.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target decreased by analysts at Citigroup from $500.00 to $497.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 15.50% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $485.00 to $470.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Argus lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $506.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.58.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $430.30 on Wednesday. Microsoft has a one year low of $326.94 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $420.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $424.56. The company has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at $353,189,942.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 864,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total value of $7,157,129.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 150,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,843,807.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after buying an additional 3,078,099 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 77.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after buying an additional 2,744,900 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.