Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $608.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective hoisted by Cantor Fitzgerald from $522.00 to $608.00 in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, August 10th. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $569.29.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $500.59 on Monday. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $473.55 and a 200-day moving average of $424.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,338,370,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,306,443,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,928,664,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,653,812,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Stifel upgraded Microsoft to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $575 from $530. The analyst expects Azure, Copilot and other AI services to accelerate revenue while Microsoft maintains resilient margins without needing excessive spending on AI models. Microsoft upgraded as analyst sees steady margins
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft plans to invest more than $10 billion in the Gulf through 2030, funding cloud and AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, connectivity and workforce development across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. The spending expands Azure’s international capacity and could create long-term commercial opportunities. Microsoft plans Gulf investment
• Positive Sentiment: AI monetization remains the central bullish thesis. Microsoft is pursuing broader Copilot adoption, including discounts of roughly 30% to 50% for large enterprise customers, while management highlights independent AI safety evaluators and software that controls AI agents as emerging opportunities. Microsoft plans larger Copilot discounts
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft and Coinbase disrupted an AI-enabled phishing network, reinforcing Microsoft’s cybersecurity credentials. However, the operation does not eliminate the persistent economic incentive for criminals to compromise accounts. Microsoft cuts AI phishing supply chain
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s collaboration with Photonic on quantum-computing resource estimation and its decision to give DARPA access to its Majorana 2 system enhance its technology and government relationships, but these projects are unlikely to affect near-term earnings. Microsoft opens quantum system to DARPA testing
• Negative Sentiment: Xbox is cutting 268 positions and transferring the next Halo game to Activision as part of a gaming restructuring. The move may improve efficiency but raises concerns about Microsoft’s gaming execution and follows recent layoffs. Microsoft cuts Xbox roles
• Negative Sentiment: Broader technology stocks weakened, while scrutiny of data-center water consumption and Microsoft’s heavy AI infrastructure spending adds to concerns about costs, regulation and execution.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.