MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $300.00 to $450.00. The stock had previously closed at $430.54, but opened at $463.40. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. MicroStrategy shares last traded at $477.00, with a volume of 18,557,154 shares traded.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on MicroStrategy in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $194.00 price target for the company. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of MicroStrategy from $180.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of MicroStrategy from $2,890.00 to $290.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on MicroStrategy from $173.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on MicroStrategy from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $289.88.

Insider Transactions at MicroStrategy

In other MicroStrategy news, CAO Jeanine Montgomery sold 752 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.45, for a total transaction of $242,482.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,069,484.10. This trade represents a 10.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Wei-Ming Shao sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.20, for a total value of $423,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $912,152. The trade was a 31.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,000 shares of company stock valued at $30,569,577. 13.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSTR. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in MicroStrategy by 782.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,255 shares of the software maker's stock worth $717,000 after purchasing an additional 3,773 shares during the last quarter. Hartline Investment Corp boosted its position in shares of MicroStrategy by 1,064.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hartline Investment Corp now owns 5,322 shares of the software maker's stock worth $897,000 after purchasing an additional 4,865 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its stake in MicroStrategy by 900.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 245,000 shares of the software maker's stock worth $41,307,000 after buying an additional 220,500 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in MicroStrategy by 848.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 37,005 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,239,000 after buying an additional 33,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MicroStrategy by 2,791.9% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 25,564 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,310,000 after acquiring an additional 24,680 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.03% of the company's stock.

MicroStrategy Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $96.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -224.88 and a beta of 3.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $222.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.36.

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

About MicroStrategy

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.