Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives "Outperform" Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $500.00 price target on the software giant's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's price target suggests a potential upside of 20.64% from the company's previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on MSFT. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $509.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.24.

Microsoft Trading Down 6.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $27.89 during trading on Thursday, hitting $414.44. 28,232,494 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,093,051. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $385.58 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $432.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. This trade represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 7.6% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant's stock worth $113,399,000 after buying an additional 18,544 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant's stock worth $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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