BMO Capital Markets Cuts Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $470.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $490.00 to $470.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the software giant's stock. BMO Capital Markets' price objective suggests a potential upside of 27.79% from the company's previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Westpark Capital started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $499.97.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $3.83 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $367.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,940,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,282,398. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $389.13 and a 200-day moving average of $413.21.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant's stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $32,830,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Campbell Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,314,000. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the third quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 42,176 shares of the software giant's stock worth $18,148,000 after acquiring an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

About Microsoft

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.