MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) Stock Price Up 15.4% After Analyst Upgrade

MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR) was up 15.4% on Wednesday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $300.00 to $450.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. MicroStrategy traded as high as $499.35 and last traded at $496.77. Approximately 29,654,531 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 70% from the average daily volume of 17,428,742 shares. The stock had previously closed at $430.54.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on MicroStrategy from $2,890.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BTIG Research upped their price target on MicroStrategy from $180.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Maxim Group increased their price objective on MicroStrategy from $193.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on MicroStrategy from $173.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on MicroStrategy in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $194.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MicroStrategy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $289.88.

Insider Activity at MicroStrategy

In other news, CEO Phong Le sold 1,252 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.45, for a total value of $403,707.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,918 shares in the company, valued at $4,487,859.10. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jeanine Montgomery sold 56,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.41, for a total value of $14,479,312.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,459,514.70. The trade was a 90.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,000 shares of company stock valued at $23,231,977 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MicroStrategy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in MicroStrategy by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 50 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in MicroStrategy by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares during the period. Cigna Investments Inc. New boosted its position in MicroStrategy by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 164 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in MicroStrategy by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 400 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of MicroStrategy by 0.3% in the second quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,515 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,219,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. 72.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MicroStrategy Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $96.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -224.88 and a beta of 3.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $222.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.36.

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software maker reported ($1.56) EPS 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 period in the prior year, the company earned ($8.98) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis.

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.