Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $617.63.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $517.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $512.83 and its 200 day moving average is $466.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after buying an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,823,341,000 after buying an additional 3,166,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,714,256,000 after buying an additional 3,532,054 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.