Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price raised by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $565.00 to $585.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the software giant’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 17.60% from the stock’s previous close.

MSFT has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $521.14.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of MSFT opened at $497.45 on Wednesday. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $498.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $446.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $421.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Birchbrook Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Fosun International Ltd increased its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,490,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gagnon Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

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.