Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Earns “Buy” Rating from Truist Financial

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by Truist Financial in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $575.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 50.69% from the company’s current price.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. New Street Research cut their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $415.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $555.40.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.2%

Microsoft stock opened at $381.58 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $399.01 and its 200-day moving average is $408.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its partnership with Databricks through the 2030s, deepening integrations across Azure, Microsoft 365, Teams and Copilot and reinforcing its cloud and AI ecosystem. Microsoft (MSFT) Expands Partnership with AI Firm Databricks
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also deepened ties with AI startup Mistral, adding another strategic AI partner and broadening its footprint in regulated industries and Europe. Microsoft and Mistral expand strategic partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft committed $60 million and Azure compute credits to the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Genesis Mission,” highlighting ongoing investment in AI-for-science initiatives and government relationships. Microsoft commits $60M to ‘Genesis Mission’
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remained constructive, with Truist reiterating a buy rating and a $575 price target, suggesting substantial upside if earnings and AI demand remain solid. Analyst note on Microsoft

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).