JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $470.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $440.00 to $470.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the software giant’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 17.78% from the stock’s previous close.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. BNP Paribas upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $471.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $441.80.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $399.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.08, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $414.44 and a 200 day moving average of $387.17. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $292.73 and a 12 month high of $430.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,625,201,000. 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.