Merit Financial Group LLC Has $2.17 Million Stock Position in MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR - Free Report) by 36.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,477 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,997 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in MicroStrategy were worth $2,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of MicroStrategy by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 141 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in MicroStrategy in the 2nd quarter valued at $106,000. Magnetar Financial LLC grew its position in MicroStrategy by 31.6% in the 2nd quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 337 shares of the software maker's stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in MicroStrategy by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 887 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MicroStrategy by 900.0% in the second quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 100 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. 59.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on MSTR shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on MicroStrategy from $392.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of MicroStrategy in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Maxim Group boosted their price target on shares of MicroStrategy from $193.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of MicroStrategy from $290.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on MicroStrategy from $300.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $479.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Jeanine Montgomery sold 56,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.41, for a total transaction of $14,479,312.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,670 shares in the company, valued at $1,459,514.70. This represents a 90.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Stephen X. Graham sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.36, for a total transaction of $9,027,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,145,979.20. This represents a 74.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 102,000 shares of company stock worth $32,259,177. Corporate insiders own 9.16% of the company's stock.

MicroStrategy Trading Up 8.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSTR traded up $29.50 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $396.50. The stock had a trading volume of 24,214,007 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,841,848. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $363.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $235.52. MicroStrategy Incorporated has a twelve month low of $43.87 and a twelve month high of $543.00. The firm has a market cap of $95.02 billion, a PE ratio of -188.18 and a beta of 3.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software maker reported ($1.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($1.44). MicroStrategy had a negative return on equity of 17.31% and a negative net margin of 87.05%. The firm had revenue of $116.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($8.98) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis.

MicroStrategy 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.