Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Up 0.8% - What's Next?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 0.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $393.18 and last traded at $391.60. 4,476,065 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 22,654,004 shares. The stock had previously closed at $388.61.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The firm's 50 day moving average is $418.73 and its 200-day moving average is $422.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 277,466 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $124,014,000 after buying an additional 5,365 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 270,546 shares of the software giant's stock worth $120,921,000 after buying an additional 5,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tredje AP fonden grew its position in Microsoft by 10.9% during the second quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 1,832,885 shares of the software giant's stock worth $819,208,000 after buying an additional 179,700 shares in the last quarter. 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.

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