Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Rating Upgraded by DA Davidson

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was upgraded by DA Davidson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a $450.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $425.00. DA Davidson’s price target points to a potential upside of 17.41% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Loop Capital increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.43.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $383.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a market cap of $2.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $413.92 and a 200-day moving average of $421.06. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $376.91 and a 52-week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 48,526.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.