Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Earns Buy Rating from UBS Group

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by UBS Group in a report issued on Friday,MarketScreener reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, November 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $618.18.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $450.93 on Friday. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.07, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $479.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $501.40.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,270 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,516,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Integrated Financial Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Financial Solutions Inc. now owns 9,157 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,429,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Luma Capital S.A. SPF acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $9,914,000. Curtis Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 104.1% during the 4th quarter. Curtis Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,841 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,759,000 after purchasing an additional 5,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Laurel Wealth Planning LLC now owns 575 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Won a meaningful U.S. Air Force cloud task order (~$170M through 2028), reinforcing Azure’s government pipeline and recurring revenue potential. This contract supports long-term cloud credibility and is a near-term revenue positive. Air Force $170M contract
• Positive Sentiment: High-visibility commercial partnerships — Microsoft sealed a multi-year tech and sponsorship deal with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 team and promoted Xbox content (Developer_Direct), both boosting corporate branding and growth narratives in cloud/AI + gaming. Mercedes F1 partnership | Xbox Developer_Direct gains
• Positive Sentiment: Several firms reaffirmed buy/overweight views (Jefferies, Guggenheim) with high price targets, highlighting conviction in AI/cloud monetization despite the pullback. That provides support for longer-term holders. Jefferies buy rating
• Neutral Sentiment: All eyes on Jan. 28 earnings — analysts and traders expect Azure/AI revenue and cloud margins to drive any material move; commentary and guidance will likely be the key short-term catalyst. Technical patterns (death cross) keep traders cautious. Earnings preview / technicals
• Neutral Sentiment: Options/strategies activity: market pieces are suggesting defensive bullish option strategies (e.g., a low-cost bull call spread) into earnings—signals traders expect limited immediate downside but want protected upside exposure. Options trade idea
• Negative Sentiment: A major Microsoft 365/Outlook outage disrupted email, Teams, SharePoint and other services across North America, raising short-term operational and reputational risks and prompting customer disruption headlines—an immediate bearish catalyst for traders focused on reliability. Microsoft 365 outage
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple analyst price-target trims and downgrades (Rothschild/Redburn cut to $450; other firms trimmed targets or cited capacity/margin concerns), pressuring sentiment and contributing to intraday weakness. Recent headlines note shares reacted to these analyst moves. Rothschild PT cut | Shares down after downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Market rotation toward storage and other AI-infrastructure plays has pulled some investor funds away from mega-cap software names, leaving MSFT more exposed to near-term selling pressure until earnings or fresh positive catalysts arrive. Rotation & sentiment

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).