Microsoft Price Target Increased to $595.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has received an upward revision in its target price from the financial analysts at Tigress Financial, who raised it from $550.00 to $595.00. This change was announced in a research note distributed to investors on Thursday, established alongside a strong "buy" rating for the company's stock. The new target price suggests a potential upside of approximately 53.77% from the stock's last closing price.

Microsoft has been featured in a number of other analysts' reports recently. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating with a price target of $509.00 for Microsoft shares in a report dated January 29. Scotiabank began its coverage of the shares on Thursday, assigning a "sector outperform" rating with a price objective of $470.00. Similarly, Wedbush repeated its "outperform" rating with a target of $550.00 in a report released on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada also maintained an "outperform" rating with a $500.00 price target in a report published on January 30. Loop Capital had previously upped their price target from $500.00 to $550.00, labeling the stock a "buy" in their report from December 23.

When considering analyst ratings, a significant majority have been positive, with three analysts giving a hold rating and twenty-eight assigning a buy rating to the company. As per data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy," with an average target price of $510.59.

Microsoft's Recent Stock Activity

On Thursday, shares of Microsoft traded down by $0.89, reaching a price of $386.93, with a total of 9,262,968 shares traded compared to the average volume of 19,229,120. The stock has shown a one-year low of $376.91 and a one-year high of $468.35, contributing to its substantial market capitalization of $2.88 trillion. Currently, Microsoft holds a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 31.09, a price-to-earnings growth (PEG) ratio of 2.21, and a beta of 0.92. In terms of moving averages, the company has a 50-day simple moving average of $410.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $420.08. Additionally, the current ratio sits at 1.35, the quick ratio is at 1.34, and the debt-to-equity ratio is at a low 0.13.

Microsoft last shared its quarterly earnings results on January 29, announcing an earnings per share (EPS) of $3.23, surpassing analysts' consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. The company's net margin stands at an impressive 35.43%, alongside a return on equity of 33.36%. In the same quarter of the previous year, Microsoft posted an EPS of $2.93. For the upcoming fiscal year, analysts anticipate that Microsoft's EPS will reach approximately 13.08.

Institutional Investors' Position on Microsoft

Recently, various hedge funds and institutional investors have adjusted their stakes in Microsoft shares. Norges Bank acquired a fresh position worth around $44 billion in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC notably increased its Microsoft holdings by 48,526.1% during the third quarter, now controlling 38,501,645 shares valued at approximately $16.5 billion after acquiring an additional 38,422,466 shares. Proficio Capital Partners LLC also boosted its position by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter, now having 16,837,278 shares valued at about $7.1 billion after an extra purchase of 16,788,816 shares. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake by 16.1% as well during the fourth quarter, bringing its total to 83,787,746 shares worth about $35.3 billion after securing an additional 11,600,470 shares. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5%, now possessing 684,071,705 shares valued at roughly $288.3 billion following the acquisition of an additional 10,431,988 shares. Collectively, hedge funds and institutional investors own around 71.13% of Microsoft's stock.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is engaged in the development and provision of software, services, devices, and solutions globally. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment includes offerings such as Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Microsoft 365 Copilot, in addition to consumer services like Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licenses for on-premises use, and various other office services.

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