Mizuho Boosts Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $510.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price increased by equities researchers at Mizuho from $480.00 to $510.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. Mizuho’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.44% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $505.43.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $449.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $364.13 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $423.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $427.51.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have 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

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Microsoft by 62.0% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,612,000 after buying an additional 43,327 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 4.3% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,099,000 after buying an additional 1,467 shares during the period. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.8% during the first quarter. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC now owns 17,522 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,372,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 6,734,231 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,831,742,000 after buying an additional 66,768 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.