Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Lowered to $575.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective reduced by stock analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $625.00 to $575.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target points to a potential upside of 19.39% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $655.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Rothschild Redb lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $605.37.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $481.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $477.57 and a 200-day moving average of $500.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. BLVD Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Seek First Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 beat on top and bottom line — revenue of ~$81.3B and EPS of $4.14 topped estimates; Azure growth remained robust and Microsoft Cloud crossed $50B quarterly, supporting the long?term AI/cloud revenue thesis. Microsoft beats Q2 earnings as Azure jumps 39% (Invezz)
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI partnership and backlog — Microsoft is seeing meaningful gains from OpenAI (including a reported ~$7.6B benefit) and a much larger contracted backlog/RPO, which supports future revenue visibility tied to AI demand. This underpins many analyst “buy” views despite near-term noise. Microsoft gained $7.6 billion from OpenAI (TechCrunch)
• Neutral Sentiment: Product and infrastructure roadmap — new Maia 200 AI accelerator chips and multiple data?center approvals improve Microsoft’s ability to compete with cloud/AI peers, but benefits are medium? to long?term and won’t immediately offset elevated capex. Microsoft’s Maia 200: The Profit Engine AI Needs (MarketBeat)
• Negative Sentiment: Record AI capex and margin pressure — the company disclosed very high AI-related capital expenditures (~$37.5B reported), which, coupled with guidance that implies moderating revenue growth, spooked investors focused on near?term returns. That drove the post?earnings selloff. Microsoft shares fall 6% in Frankfurt after results (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: Relative disappointment vs. peers — Meta’s results and guidance were perceived as showing clearer near?term AI monetization (ads), which highlighted investors’ new rule: big AI spending must show accelerating growth. That contrast amplified selling pressure on Microsoft. Meta and Microsoft earnings highlight shifting investor mood on AI (Invezz)

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).