Wolfe Research Upgrades Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to “Strong-Buy”

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wolfe Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday, Zacks reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $662.00 to $722.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $609.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $530.14 on Thursday. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $551.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $512.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $438.21. The company has a market cap of $3.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.67, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.72 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 41.17% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The company had revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.13 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 19.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

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 transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Montgomery Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Fiduciary Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft exceeded expectations with $92.3 billion in revenue and $4.89 in earnings per share. Azure revenue rose 48% to approximately $33.2 billion, while total cloud revenue increased 30%, reinforcing confidence that AI demand is translating into sales. Microsoft’s latest earnings beat the Street
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their price targets, with Citigroup moving to $680 and several firms setting targets between $625 and $650. Microsoft’s strong free cash flow—reportedly about $28 billion above Alphabet’s—also gives it greater flexibility to fund AI investment without immediately straining its finances. Microsoft’s cash flow edge over Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft plans to issue roughly $25 billion of bonds to support its AI infrastructure expansion. Strong demand for the offering signals investor confidence in Microsoft’s credit quality, but the borrowing also highlights how expensive the AI buildout is becoming. Microsoft plans to raise $25 billion in debt
• Neutral Sentiment: Capital spending guidance was reduced because of delays by third-party infrastructure providers, not weaker demand. The delay may defer near-term capacity and revenue, while Microsoft’s offer of buyouts to approximately 60,000 employees suggests an effort to improve efficiency as spending shifts toward AI. AI buildout hits a snag
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that AI spending could pressure future margins and returns, particularly after Microsoft’s large bond sale. Windows sales also fell 22% as higher memory costs weakened PC demand, adding a slower-growth counterweight to the cloud momentum. Microsoft’s Windows sales fell 22%

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company’s principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.