Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Upgraded at Wolfe Research

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was upgraded by Wolfe Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday, Zacks reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $570.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Evercore raised Microsoft from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.54.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2%

Microsoft stock opened at $530.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.67, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $512.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $438.21. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $551.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.72 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 41.17% and a return on equity of 32.31%. The business had revenue of $92.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 19.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% 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 sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Montgomery Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $26,000. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $37,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Fiduciary Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft exceeded expectations with $92.3 billion in revenue and $4.89 in earnings per share. Azure revenue rose 48% to approximately $33.2 billion, while total cloud revenue increased 30%, reinforcing confidence that AI demand is translating into sales. Microsoft’s latest earnings beat the Street
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their price targets, with Citigroup moving to $680 and several firms setting targets between $625 and $650. Microsoft’s strong free cash flow—reportedly about $28 billion above Alphabet’s—also gives it greater flexibility to fund AI investment without immediately straining its finances. Microsoft’s cash flow edge over Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft plans to issue roughly $25 billion of bonds to support its AI infrastructure expansion. Strong demand for the offering signals investor confidence in Microsoft’s credit quality, but the borrowing also highlights how expensive the AI buildout is becoming. Microsoft plans to raise $25 billion in debt
• Neutral Sentiment: Capital spending guidance was reduced because of delays by third-party infrastructure providers, not weaker demand. The delay may defer near-term capacity and revenue, while Microsoft’s offer of buyouts to approximately 60,000 employees suggests an effort to improve efficiency as spending shifts toward AI. AI buildout hits a snag
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that AI spending could pressure future margins and returns, particularly after Microsoft’s large bond sale. Windows sales also fell 22% as higher memory costs weakened PC demand, adding a slower-growth counterweight to the cloud momentum. Microsoft’s Windows sales fell 22%

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company’s principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.