Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $555.40.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 6th. CLSA assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $535.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, May 4th.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MORGUARD LINCLUDEN GLOBAL INVESTMENTS Ltd raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. MORGUARD LINCLUDEN GLOBAL INVESTMENTS Ltd now owns 22,093 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,241,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Brookmont Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Brookmont Capital Management now owns 12,387 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,620,000 after buying an additional 1,515 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC now owns 13,406 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,001,000 after buying an additional 1,852 shares during the period. Perryman Financial Advisory Inc. AD increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Perryman Financial Advisory Inc. AD now owns 53,233 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,859,000 after buying an additional 1,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 11,141 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,156,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $381.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $398.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $408.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined 25 tech companies in urging U.S. policymakers not to impose broad restrictions on open-weight and open-source AI models, a stance that supports its broader AI ecosystem strategy and could help preserve flexibility for future product development. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also backed a coalition letter with Nvidia, Meta, and other firms arguing that open-weight AI is important for U.S. leadership, reinforcing investor confidence that the company remains a major AI platform player rather than being boxed into one model provider. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded Databricks partnership extends a key cloud/data-AI relationship through the 2030s, which should help Azure adoption and strengthen long-term enterprise demand for Microsoft’s cloud services. TipRanks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several previews ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report say the big investor focus will be FY2027 CapEx guidance and Azure growth, with analysts expecting strong results but worrying that AI infrastructure spending could weigh on free cash flow and margins. MarketBeat article
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued class-action alerts and deadline reminders tied to Microsoft securities-fraud claims, including allegations related to Copilot disclosures, which adds headline risk and may keep some investors cautious into earnings. GlobeNewswire article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness tied to AI spending fears also weighed on Microsoft, as investors sold mega-cap names after seeing massive capital outlays across the sector and questioning near-term returns on AI investment. Fox Business article

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).