Jefferies Financial Group Issues Positive Forecast for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective hoisted by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $475.00 to $550.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 26.36% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $472.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.77.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.3 %

MSFT stock opened at $435.28 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $384.93 and its 200 day moving average is $411.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 34,527 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,961,000 after purchasing an additional 6,086 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 522,730 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $196,228,000 after buying an additional 3,250 shares during the last quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the first quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC now owns 63,100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 472.8% in the first quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 51,349 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,276,000 after acquiring an additional 42,384 shares during the period. Finally, Hardy Reed LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the first quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 27,703 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,399,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.