Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $525.00 at UBS Group

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target raised by UBS Group from $500.00 to $525.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 20.13% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $508.46.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $437.03 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $426.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $428.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after buying an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 67.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,566,250,000 after buying an additional 2,404,348 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.