Microsoft’s (MSFT) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group reissued their buy rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a research report released on Friday morning,MarketScreener reports.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on MSFT. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $617.44.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $523.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $511.52 and a 200-day moving average of $482.47.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MGO One Seven LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 38.7% during the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 201,264 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $104,245,000 after purchasing an additional 56,159 shares during the last quarter. Nixon Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.2% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 285,672 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,964,000 after purchasing an additional 14,182 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in Microsoft by 8.0% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 583,576 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $302,263,000 after purchasing an additional 43,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.2% during the third quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 166,015 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $85,987,000 after purchasing an additional 8,153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.