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

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $560.8837.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expected to showcase new homegrown AI models at Build, including a coding model that could improve GitHub Copilot and support future developer adoption. Microsoft to release new coding model next week, the Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary is turning more bullish on Microsoft’s AI revenue potential, with Morgan Stanley and HSBC both suggesting the market may be underestimating future upside from Azure, Copilot, and the Anthropic relationship. Is Wall Street underestimating MSFT AI revenue potential? Morgan Stanley weighs in
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also benefited from a broad tech rally, with AI and software stocks leading the market higher late in the session. Sector Update: Tech Stocks Rise Late Afternoon
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft secured a five-year $9.69 billion Pentagon software deal that consolidates government licensing and reinforces its entrenched enterprise and public-sector position. Pentagon awards Microsoft $9.7 billion deal in bid to cut costs, end license sprawl
• Neutral Sentiment: Some articles also note Microsoft’s heavy AI spending and the risk of capital misallocation across the sector, which could keep valuation debates active even as the stock trends higher. Peter Schiff: The $1 Trillion AI CapEx Bubble Is Hiding a Massive Capital Misallocation

Microsoft Trading Up 3.5%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $426.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $400.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $434.51.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% 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 Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).