Analysts Set Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) PT at $561.20

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-seven analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and forty-one have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $560.8636.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Arete Research lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft shares bounced as the broader memory and semiconductor market stabilized, helping relieve some of the pressure tied to AI infrastructure and component-cost fears.
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush and other bullish commentators said the recent tech selloff may be a buying opportunity, arguing Microsoft remains a core AI leader despite near-term volatility. Dan Ives Says Microsoft And Meta Are Being Treated Like ‘Bear Market’ Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft was mentioned in new partnerships and product integrations, including Commvault, PitchBook, FPT, and ICON plc, reinforcing demand for Microsoft’s cloud and AI ecosystem. Microsoft Just Made Commvault a Native Azure Service. Here Is How to Play CVLT Stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft also drew attention from investors after Michael Burry disclosed a long position, which some traders viewed as a contrarian buy signal.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple articles noted analysts still like the stock long term, but Wall Street remains focused on whether AI spending is destroying near-term margins and free cash flow. Wall Street Analysts Think Microsoft (MSFT) Is a Good Investment: Is It?
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel cut its Microsoft price target and warned that FY27 gross margin estimates may be too high because Azure growth is coming with heavier capex and margin pressure. Microsoft’s Stock Is Crippled
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft announced another worldwide Xbox price increase, citing soaring memory and storage costs, which adds to concerns that hardware inflation is squeezing the gaming business.
• Negative Sentiment: New legal and regulatory pressure also weighed on the stock, including an Italy antitrust probe into Microsoft 365 pricing and new shareholder class-action notices over alleged investor misinformation.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 5.7%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $372.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $410.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $421.47. Microsoft has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

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).