Citigroup Cuts Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $497.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by research analysts at Citigroup from $500.00 to $497.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the software giant's stock. Citigroup's price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.93% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $495.58.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $2.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $425.05. 9,795,648 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,243,506. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.17, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $326.94 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $420.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $424.56.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in Microsoft by 47,196.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,160,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 667,987,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $281,035,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Microsoft by 77.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,281,925 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,642,931,000 after buying an additional 2,744,900 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.