Jefferies Financial Group Reiterates Buy Rating for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a note issued to investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on MSFT. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and issued a $392.00 price objective (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $641.00 price target (down from $645.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $575.34.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $415.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.00, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $393.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $451.84. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $356.28 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were 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 owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large strategic AI investment in Australia signals long-term cloud/AI capacity growth and market share expansion. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts maintain bullish views on Microsoft’s AI monetization (Copilot/Azure) with high price targets, supporting a multi-quarter growth narrative. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Partnerships to boost security posture by integrating Anthropic’s Mythos into Microsoft’s secure development lifecycle could reduce risk and strengthen enterprise positioning. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership change at LinkedIn (new CEO Daniel Shapero) is an internal management move that may aid execution but is not an immediate earnings driver. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming fiscal Q3 earnings (April 29) remains the near-term catalyst; results and guidance will determine whether AI investments are translating to revenue and margin improvement. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts (first time in company history) to roughly 7% of U.S. staff as it restructures around AI — investors view this as evidence of large near-term labor and restructuring costs tied to a major AI spending plan. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market concern about Microsoft’s heavy AI spending (variously reported as large multi?year commitments) and perceived dependence on OpenAI have prompted negative analyst takes calling MSFT a potential “value trap.” Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Short-term selling pressure after the buyout and upgraded near-term spending estimates has already pressured the share price, with coverage noting a meaningful one?day pullback tied to the move. Read More.

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).