Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $480.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $460.00 to $480.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the software giant’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 18.73% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on MSFT. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $421.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $432.13.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $404.27 on Wednesday. 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 has a one year low of $275.37 and a one year high of $430.82. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $415.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $384.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,887 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,359,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 82,267 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,976,000 after purchasing an additional 3,209 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 470,301 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,497,000 after purchasing an additional 5,366 shares during the period. RNC Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 69,053 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,967,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares during the period. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,471 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.