Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 0.8% Higher – What’s Next?

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price traded up 0.8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $393.18 and last traded at $391.60. 4,476,065 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 22,654,004 shares. The stock had previously closed at $388.61.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $417.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $422.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,080,578.32. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Microsoft by 35.7% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $45,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by 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.