Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Cut to $275.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) had its price target decreased by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $280.00 to $275.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, The Fly reports. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 13.62% from the company’s previous close. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for Microsoft’s Q2 2023 earnings at $2.13 EPS, Q3 2023 earnings at $2.36 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $2.59 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $9.42 EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $2.59 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $2.66 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $2.72 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $2.93 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $10.89 EPS.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Microsoft from $325.00 to $307.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Microsoft from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $315.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. Credit Suisse Group set a $365.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Friday, December 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $300.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.82.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $242.04 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $315.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $241.72 and a 200-day moving average of $249.53. The company has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.94.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.02. Microsoft had a return on equity of 42.10% and a net margin of 34.37%. The company had revenue of $52.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 24,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.27, for a total value of $6,139,094.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 150,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,152,450.69. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 47,529 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,398,000 after buying an additional 3,877 shares during the last quarter. Intelligent Financial Strategies boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Intelligent Financial Strategies now owns 6,087 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Kooman & Associates bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $807,000. Bill Few Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 38,717 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,285,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bouchey Financial Group Ltd boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd now owns 10,577 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,537,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

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Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.