Barclays Reiterates Buy Rating for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Barclays in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $610.00 price target on the software giant’s stock, down from their prior price target of $625.00. Barclays‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 33.58% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Guggenheim set a $675.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, November 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $630.37.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $2.72 on Monday, hitting $456.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,185,550 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,946,641. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $485.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $503.16. The company has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.48, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. BLVD Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,641,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Seek First Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Level Financial Advisors increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays reaffirmed a “buy” rating on MSFT, signaling continued analyst confidence in the company’s long-term growth story and supporting investor demand. Barclays Reaffirms Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined licensing deals and partnerships that improve access to training data and AI inputs (e.g., new agreements with Wikipedia), which supports its AI model development and competitive moat. Wikipedia AI Licensing Deals
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft outlined a “community-first” plan for U.S. AI datacenter buildouts and pledged to mitigate local electricity impacts — a move that reduces regulatory and reputational risk but carries execution and cost considerations. Community-First Plan
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft struck a record purchase of soil carbon credits to offset rising datacenter emissions; it’s positive for ESG positioning but represents a meaningful near-term cash outlay. Record Soil Carbon Credit Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming fiscal Q2 results on Jan. 28 are a key near-term catalyst — investors are positioning ahead of the report that will provide fresh Azure/AI revenue and margin details. Jan. 28 Catalyst
• Negative Sentiment: Switzerland’s competition authority opened a preliminary probe into Microsoft’s licensing fees, raising antitrust risk and the prospect of regulatory scrutiny that could affect pricing or contract practices in Europe. Swiss Antitrust Probe
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft’s annual spending on Anthropic AI approaches ~$500M have spooked some investors concerned about rising external model costs and margin pressure, even as the investment supports product competitiveness. Anthropic Spending Report
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market dynamics — a rotation away from high-multiple tech names amid interest-rate uncertainty and profit-taking — have put additional selling pressure on MSFT, contributing to today’s weakness. Tech Rotation/Valuation Pressure

About Microsoft

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).