MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $408.67, but opened at $424.87. MicroStrategy shares last traded at $417.24, with a volume of 6,876,475 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSTR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on MicroStrategy from $275.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of MicroStrategy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Maxim Group lifted their target price on shares of MicroStrategy from $193.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of MicroStrategy from $392.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of MicroStrategy from $300.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MicroStrategy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $479.25.

MicroStrategy Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $78.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -183.14 and a beta of 3.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $311.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $205.02.

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software maker reported ($1.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($1.44). MicroStrategy had a negative net margin of 87.05% and a negative return on equity of 17.31%. The company had revenue of $116.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($8.98) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MicroStrategy news, EVP Wei-Ming Shao sold 18,000 shares of MicroStrategy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.01, for a total value of $6,624,180.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,344.60. The trade was a 73.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen X. Graham sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.36, for a total value of $9,027,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,145,979.20. The trade was a 74.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,000 shares of company stock worth $32,259,177 in the last quarter. 13.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MicroStrategy in the third quarter valued at about $254,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of MicroStrategy by 1,105.2% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,640 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $782,000 after buying an additional 4,255 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of MicroStrategy by 3.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,248 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $716,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its stake in MicroStrategy by 900.0% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 2,350 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 2,115 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MicroStrategy by 3,250.8% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 14,442 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,435,000 after acquiring an additional 14,011 shares in the last quarter. 59.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.