Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives “Buy” Rating from Royal Bank Of Canada

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on MSFT. President Capital upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Microsoft to $502.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.88.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $419.09 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $399.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $437.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $356.28 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. IRON Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.2% in the third quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,372,000 after buying an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. PMG Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $493,860,000 after acquiring an additional 9,700 shares during the period. Finally, Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and EY launched a $1 billion effort to help customers adopt AI, reinforcing MSFT’s enterprise AI monetization story. Microsoft and EY Team to Promote Corporate AI Adoption
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Anthropic is in talks to use Microsoft’s Maia AI chips point to potential demand for Microsoft’s custom AI hardware and Azure infrastructure. Anthropic, Microsoft in talks for AI chip deal after $5 billion investment
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and commentary argue the recent selloff has left Microsoft looking undervalued relative to its long-term AI growth prospects. Microsoft Stock Discount May Be Ending as AI Catalysts Build

Microsoft Company Profile

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).