Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 3% After Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares were up 3% during mid-day trading on Friday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $400.00 to $450.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $466.84 and last traded at $464.72. 60,494,661 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 61% from the average session volume of 37,679,688 shares. The stock had previously closed at $451.10.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on MSFT. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Dbs Bank decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. CLSA reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $558.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cloud growth exceeded expectations. Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.7% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $4.74 versus the $4.24 consensus. Azure revenue grew 43%, helping annual Azure sales surpass $100 billion for the first time. Microsoft tops quarterly cloud growth estimates
• Positive Sentiment: AI demand is translating into contracted revenue. Microsoft’s commercial remaining performance obligation reached approximately $678 billion, an 84% year-over-year increase. Analysts viewed the backlog, Azure momentum and rising enterprise demand as evidence that AI infrastructure investments are producing tangible business growth. Microsoft backlog reaches $678 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Copilot adoption is accelerating. Microsoft 365 Copilot surpassed 30 million paid seats, supporting optimism that the company can monetize AI through a combination of software subscriptions and usage-based consumption. Microsoft Copilot surpasses 30 million paid seats
• Positive Sentiment: Capital-spending concerns eased. Microsoft held its annual AI capital-expenditure outlook broadly steady and indicated it can slow GPU purchases if demand weakens. Management also expects continued cash generation, which reassured investors concerned about the cost of data-center expansion. Microsoft holds AI capital spending forecast
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with several firms raising price targets or reiterating Buy and Outperform ratings. However, targets vary considerably, reflecting continued debate over valuation and the profitability of AI infrastructure.
• Negative Sentiment: Risks remain. Microsoft’s workforce declined by 5,000 employees, including a second consecutive annual decline in product R&D jobs. Separately, a reported cloud-security flaw and multiple securities-fraud lawsuit notices could weigh on sentiment, although neither appears to have offset the earnings-driven optimism. Reported Microsoft cloud security flaw

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Taylor Securities Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in Microsoft by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 272,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $131,750,000 after acquiring an additional 49,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 8,648 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,745 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 3.0%

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $397.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $405.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 33.07%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

About Microsoft

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).