BNP Paribas Exane Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price raised by equities researchers at BNP Paribas Exane from $630.00 to $632.00 in a research note issued on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. BNP Paribas Exane’s target price suggests a potential upside of 23.45% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Arete upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $634.59.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $511.93 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $514.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $490.44.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 192,555 shares of company stock worth $97,840,842. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Horizon Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the third quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC now owns 20,335 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,533,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Triglav Investments D.O.O. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% in the third quarter. Triglav Investments D.O.O. now owns 250,101 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $129,540,000 after acquiring an additional 6,496 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 15.3% in the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 1,384,355 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $706,461,000 after acquiring an additional 183,549 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 201,663 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $104,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gallacher Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 17.0% in the third quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 2,927 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,516,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.