Analysts Turn Mixed On Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), CenturyLink, Inc. (CTL) - Financial Mercury

The shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has been pegged with a rating of Buy by BofA/Merrill in its latest research note that was published on October 25th, 2018. The research company has also assigned a $140 price target. BofA/Merrill wasn’t the only research firm that published a report of Microsoft Corporation, with other equities research analysts also giving their opinion on the stock. BofA/Merrill advised investors in its research note published on October 22nd, 2018, to Buy the MSFT stock while also putting a $135 price target. The stock had earned Outperform rating from Wedbush when it published its report on October 19th, 2018. That day the Wedbush set price target on the stock to $140. The stock was given Outperform rating by Macquarie in its report released on October 12th, 2018. Griffin Securities was of a view that MSFT is Buy in its latest report on July 20th, 2018 while giving it a price target of $124. BMO Capital Markets thinks that MSFT is worth Outperform rating. This was contained in the firm’s report on July 20th, 2018 in which the stock’s price target was also moved to $125.

Amongst the analysts that rated the stock, 1 have recommended investors to sell it, 1 believe it has the potential for further growth, thus rating it as Hold while 19 advised investors to purchase the stock. The consensus currently stands at a Hold while its average price target is $125.39. The price of the stock the last time has raised by 16.19% from its Week high price while it is raised higher than its 52-Week low price. A look at the stock’s other technical shows that its 14-day RSI now stands at 39.16.

The shares of the company dipped by -3.68% during the trading session on Thursday, reaching a low of $97.2 while ending the day at $97.40. During the trading session, a total of 42.05 million shares were traded which represents a -0.75% decline from the average session volume which is 41.74M shares. MSFT had ended its last session trading at 101.12. Microsoft Corporation currently has a market cap of $780.23B, while its P/E ratio stands at 23.26, while its P/E earnings growth sits at 6.79, with a beta of 1.20. Microsoft Corporation debt-to-equity ratio currently stands at 0.94, while its quick ratio hovers at 2.90. MSFT 52-week low price stands at $83.83 while its 52-week high price is $116.18.

The company in its last quarterly report recorded $1.14 earnings per share which is above the $0.96 predicted by most analysts. The Microsoft Corporation generated $29,084.00 million in revenue during the last quarter, which is slightly higher than the $27,903.70 million predicted by analysts. In the second quarter last year, the firm recorded $1.13 earnings per share. Compared to the same quarter last year, the firm’s revenue was up by 0.88%. Microsoft Corporation has the potential to record 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year, according to equities analysts.

Investment analysts at MoffettNathanson published a research note on November 19th, 2018 where it informed investors and clients that CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL) is now rated as Sell. Their price target on the stock stands at $16. BofA/Merrill also rated CTL as Reiterated on October 22nd, 2018, with its price target of $135 suggesting that CTL could surge by 25.65% from its current share price. Even though the stock has been trading at $15.44/share, analysts expect it to surge higher by 0.45% to reach $20.86/share. It started the day trading at $15.9 and traded between $15.2 and $15.51 throughout the trading session.

A look at its technical shows that CTL’s 50-day SMA is 18.29 while its 200-day SMA stands at 19.21. The stock has a high of $24.20 for the year while the low is $13.97. The company’s P/E ratio currently sits at 23.72, while the P/B ratio is 0.73. The company’s average trading volume currently stands at 11.66M shares, which means that the short-interest ratio is just 7.44 days. Over the past seven days, the company moved, with its shift of 1.37%. Looking further, the stock has dropped -28.95% over the past 90 days while it lost -18.80% over the last six months.

The Vanguard Group Inc meanwhile sold more CTL shares in the recently filed quarter, changing its stake to $1,873,215,588 worth of shares. Southeastern Asset Management In followed the path by decreasing its CTL portfolio by -3.89% in the quarter. This means that Southeastern Asset Management In sold -2,755,676 shares in the last quarter and now controls 68,134,589 shares of the CTL stock, with the valuation hitting $1,280,930,273.

Similarly, SSgA Funds Management Inc decreased its CenturyLink, Inc. shares by -0.71% during the recently filed quarter. After selling -344,461 shares in the last quarter, the firm now controls 48,303,961 shares of CenturyLink, Inc. which are valued at $908,114,467. In the same vein, BNY Mellon Asset Management North decreased its CenturyLink, Inc. shares by during the most recent reported quarter. The firm sold -133,314 shares during the quarter which decreased its stakes to 16,834,582 shares and is now valued at $316,490,142. Following these latest developments, around 0.50% of CenturyLink, Inc. stocks are owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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