Weekly Investment Analysts’ Ratings Changes for Microsoft (MSFT)

Several brokerages have updated their recommendations and price targets on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in the last few weeks:

• 5/15/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Citigroup Inc. from $480.00 to $540.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 5/5/2025 – Microsoft was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Piper Sandler.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Benchmark Co..
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Needham & Company LLC.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Scotiabank from $470.00 to $500.00. They now have a “sector outperform” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $472.00 to $482.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald from $502.00 to $512.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $500.00 to $515.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays PLC from $430.00 to $494.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Piper Sandler from $435.00 to $475.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $465.00 to $475.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Raymond James from $480.00 to $490.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $500.00 to $525.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Wedbush from $475.00 to $515.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Mizuho from $475.00 to $500.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Evercore ISI from $435.00 to $500.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $470.00 to $485.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Guggenheim.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Westpark Capital.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at DA Davidson from $450.00 to $500.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. from $475.00 to $550.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at TD Securities from $475.00 to $490.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from $450.00 to $480.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 5/1/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $475.00 to $500.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/24/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from $500.00 to $450.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/23/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Piper Sandler from $520.00 to $435.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/23/2025 – Microsoft had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Guggenheim.
• 4/21/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Barclays PLC from $475.00 to $430.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/17/2025 – Microsoft had its “sector weight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at KeyCorp.
• 4/16/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $530.00 to $472.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/16/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $490.00 to $470.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 4/15/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Bank of America Co. from $510.00 to $480.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/14/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $515.00 to $500.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/14/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at UBS Group AG from $510.00 to $480.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/10/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Wedbush from $550.00 to $475.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 4/7/2025 – Microsoft had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc.. They now have a $475.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $500.00.
• 4/1/2025 – Microsoft is now covered by analysts at Westpark Capital. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 3/31/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. from $550.00 to $500.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 3/20/2025 – Microsoft is now covered by analysts at Scotiabank. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $470.00 price target on the stock.
• 3/20/2025 – Microsoft had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush. They now have a $550.00 price target on the stock.
• 3/20/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Tigress Financial from $550.00 to $595.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6%

Microsoft stock traded up $2.50 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $456.77. The stock had a trading volume of 5,761,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,980,605. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $395.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $412.34. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.78, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 94,243 shares of company stock valued at $41,288,738 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. grew its position in Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $133,023,000 after acquiring an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,980,299,000 after buying an additional 217,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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.