Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Lowered to $625.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $650.00 to $625.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the software giant’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 62.37% from the stock’s current price.

MSFT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $558.73.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $384.93 on Wednesday. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $401.47 and its 200 day moving average is $412.68. The stock has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. PMG Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth $828,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2,332.1% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,262,509,000 after acquiring an additional 6,468,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors grew its stake in Microsoft by 22.1% during 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. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding enterprise AI deployments, reinforcing demand for its AI and cloud ecosystem and supporting the long-term growth narrative.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports of Microsoft being a customer for new AI data-center infrastructure in Finland highlight continued investment in AI capacity and cloud expansion.
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentators still view Microsoft as attractively valued relative to its AI growth prospects ahead of its upcoming earnings report.
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional share changes were mixed, with one fund adding to MSFT while another trimmed its position, suggesting no clear consensus shift.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft faces a securities fraud class action tied to alleged Copilot disclosures, creating legal and reputational overhang.
• Negative Sentiment: Job cuts and restructuring in the Xbox/gaming business may raise concerns about cost pressures and slowing parts of the business.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing market concern that AI spending is getting too expensive is weighing on Microsoft and other cloud leaders.

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).