Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Price Target Raised to $74.00 at Citigroup Inc.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target boosted by Citigroup Inc. from $72.00 to $74.00 in a research note issued on Friday, July 21st. The firm presently has a “sell” rating on the software giant’s stock. Citigroup Inc.’s target price suggests a potential upside of 0.48% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on MSFT. BidaskClub downgraded Microsoft Corporation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 10th. Global Equities Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Microsoft Corporation in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. Vetr downgraded Microsoft Corporation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $74.93 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Canaccord Genuity restated a “hold” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Microsoft Corporation in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft Corporation in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.15.

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) traded down 1.33% during midday trading on Friday, hitting $72.67. The company had a trading volume of 15,554,010 shares. The firm has a market capitalization of $559.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.82 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $71.98 and its 200-day moving average is $68.17. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $55.61 and a 12-month high of $74.42.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The software giant reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $24.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.29 billion. Microsoft Corporation had a return on equity of 36.81% and a net margin of 23.57%. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post $3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, EVP Christopher C. Capossela sold 4,927 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.75, for a total value of $338,731.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 214,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,718,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jean Philippe Courtois sold 26,165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total value of $1,805,385.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,843 shares in the company, valued at $39,388,167. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,057,855 shares of company stock worth $512,044,578. Company insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Appropriate Balance Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 4.7% in the second quarter. Appropriate Balance Financial Services Inc. now owns 643 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,331,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Acrospire Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation by 300.0% in the second quarter. Acrospire Investment Management LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Hefty Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation by 65.6% in the second quarter. Hefty Wealth Partners now owns 1,648 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Services Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation by 93.0% in the first quarter. Asset Planning Services Ltd. now owns 1,737 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ullmann Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation during the first quarter worth approximately $132,000. 72.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Corporation is a technology company. The Company develops, licenses, and supports a range of software products, services and devices. The Company’s segments include Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud and More Personal Computing. The Company’s products include operating systems; cross-device productivity applications; server applications; business solution applications; desktop and server management tools; software development tools; video games, and training and certification of computer system integrators and developers.