Microsoft (MSFT) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at Instinet

Equities researchers at Instinet initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research report issued on Thursday. The firm set a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on MSFT. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 target price (up from $85.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 27th. UBS Group set a $105.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 9th. Vetr lowered Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $93.77 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, December 11th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $94.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 27th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Microsoft from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.22.

Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded up $1.73 during trading on Thursday, hitting $94.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 26,348,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,540,000. Microsoft has a one year low of $62.75 and a one year high of $94.06. The stock has a market cap of $725,630.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 3.12, a quick ratio of 3.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The software giant reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $24.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.23% and a net margin of 24.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other news, insider Frank H. Brod sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.08, for a total transaction of $1,261,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 116,205 shares in the company, valued at $9,770,516.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher C. Capossela sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total value of $333,840.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 189,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,797,141.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 45,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,759,420. 1.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Appropriate Balance Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.7% during the second quarter. Appropriate Balance Financial Services Inc. now owns 643 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,331,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $103,000. Cerebellum GP LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $134,000. Acrospire Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 300.0% during the second quarter. Acrospire Investment Management LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stelac Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.5% during the second quarter. Stelac Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,033 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $140,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.18% of the company’s stock.

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About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a technology company. The Company develops, licenses, and supports a range of software products, services and devices. The Company’s segments include Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud and More Personal Computing. The Company’s products include operating systems; cross-device productivity applications; server applications; business solution applications; desktop and server management tools; software development tools; video games, and training and certification of computer system integrators and developers.