Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $570.62

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and forty-three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $571.18.

A number of research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $440.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Montgomery Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.53 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $490.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $429.97. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure and AI demand remain the primary catalyst. Investor data and analyst commentary point to accelerating Azure demand, while Microsoft’s recent earnings showed its fastest cloud growth in four years. The improving demand is helping ease concerns that the company’s substantial AI infrastructure spending will not generate adequate returns. Ca$htag: MSFT Azure Cloud Drives Soaring Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo added Microsoft to its Q4 Tactical Ideas list and raised its price target to $725, citing Azure’s growth potential and the prospect of improved AI monetization through Copilot. The action adds to a series of bullish analyst revisions; one report noted that 52 analysts covering Microsoft currently have no sell ratings. With Azure as a Catalyst, Microsoft Is Positioned for Sustained Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship provides potential additional value. Investors are increasingly focused on Microsoft’s stake and commercial partnership with OpenAI, particularly ahead of a possible OpenAI initial public offering that could provide a market reference for the investment. OpenAI’s Future IPO Keeps Me Buying Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced new real-time AI speech models for customer-service agents, multilingual assistants and voice interfaces. The products broaden Microsoft’s enterprise AI offering and could support additional cloud consumption and software revenue. Microsoft Targets Contact Center Market With Real-Time AI Voice Models
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting Microsoft’s October 7 Surface and Windows event. New hardware or Windows updates could support the ecosystem, although the event has not yet produced a material earnings catalyst. Microsoft Stock Notches Up Ahead of the Surface Show
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include heavy AI capital spending, valuation concerns and broader market concentration. Critics argue that rising data-center capacity could pressure compute pricing and returns, while strategists warn that a market correction could disproportionately affect megacap technology stocks. Microsoft’s dividend remains affordable, but AI infrastructure spending and lease commitments could limit future dividend growth. Morgan Stanley Strategist Sees Market Drawdown Potential

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.