Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Phillip Securities

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was downgraded by analysts at Phillip Securities from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

MSFT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup raised Microsoft from a “market outperform” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $581.80.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of MSFT opened at $543.45 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.26, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $503.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $437.50.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Maia 300 strengthens Microsoft’s AI infrastructure strategy. Microsoft unveiled its third-generation Maia 300 AI chip and plans multi-gigawatt deployments beginning in 2027. The company says the chip can deliver approximately 40% more AI-generated tokens per megawatt or dollar than leading GPU-based systems, potentially lowering computing costs and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD. Microsoft Reveals Next-Gen Maia 300 Custom AI Chip For Widespread Deployment
• Positive Sentiment: AI and cloud demand remain major valuation catalysts. Reports highlight accelerating Azure demand, a record commercial backlog and more than $130 billion in new data-center leases, supporting expectations for continued growth in cloud and AI services. Microsoft also has several generations of proprietary AI chips, giving investors a potential long-term margin and supply-chain advantage. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism provides additional support. Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects greater differentiation in software as the next quarter progresses. The company is scheduled to report fiscal first-quarter results on October 28, with analysts looking for roughly $4.72 in earnings per share and $90.4 billion in revenue. Microsoft price target raised to $600 from $512 at Barclays

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.