Piper Sandler Increases Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $600.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from $475.00 to $600.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the software giant’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 19.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also commented on MSFT. Oppenheimer upgraded Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Wedbush upped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.14.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $503.32 on Thursday. Microsoft has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $506.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $470.64 and its 200 day moving average is $425.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.90, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Newton One Investments LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is 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.