Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $575.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $625.00 to $575.00 in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 19.39% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen cut their price target on Microsoft from $655.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $605.37.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $481.63 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $477.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $500.68. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 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 acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Seek First Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Level Financial Advisors grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 beat on top and bottom line — revenue of ~$81.3B and EPS of $4.14 topped estimates; Azure growth remained robust and Microsoft Cloud crossed $50B quarterly, supporting the long‑term AI/cloud revenue thesis. Microsoft beats Q2 earnings as Azure jumps 39% (Invezz)
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI partnership and backlog — Microsoft is seeing meaningful gains from OpenAI (including a reported ~$7.6B benefit) and a much larger contracted backlog/RPO, which supports future revenue visibility tied to AI demand. This underpins many analyst “buy” views despite near-term noise. Microsoft gained $7.6 billion from OpenAI (TechCrunch)
• Neutral Sentiment: Product and infrastructure roadmap — new Maia 200 AI accelerator chips and multiple data‑center approvals improve Microsoft’s ability to compete with cloud/AI peers, but benefits are medium‑ to long‑term and won’t immediately offset elevated capex. Microsoft’s Maia 200: The Profit Engine AI Needs (MarketBeat)
• Negative Sentiment: Record AI capex and margin pressure — the company disclosed very high AI-related capital expenditures (~$37.5B reported), which, coupled with guidance that implies moderating revenue growth, spooked investors focused on near‑term returns. That drove the post‑earnings selloff. Microsoft shares fall 6% in Frankfurt after results (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: Relative disappointment vs. peers — Meta’s results and guidance were perceived as showing clearer near‑term AI monetization (ads), which highlighted investors’ new rule: big AI spending must show accelerating growth. That contrast amplified selling pressure on Microsoft. Meta and Microsoft earnings highlight shifting investor mood on AI (Invezz)

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).