Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 3.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price was up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after New Street Research raised their price target on the stock from $670.00 to $675.00. New Street Research currently has a buy rating on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $372.90 and last traded at $370.17. Approximately 42,992,286 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 18% from the average daily volume of 36,509,344 shares. The stock had previously closed at $358.96.

Several other research firms also recently commented on MSFT. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $590.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $588.97.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Exclusive power/energy talks: Microsoft has an exclusivity agreement with Chevron and Engine No. 1 to develop a ~2.5GW (potentially expandable) Texas gas‑power complex to supply a large data‑center campus — this de‑risks power for MSFT’s AI buildout and shortens a key infrastructure bottleneck. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Regional cloud/AI capex: Microsoft is committing major capital to Asia — a reported $5.5B in Singapore plus ~$1B in Thailand — to expand Azure/AI capacity and local partnerships, supporting long‑term revenue from enterprise AI adoption. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Several firms (Benchmark start‑coverage Buy, New Street higher PT, others) have issued or reiterated Buy ratings and raised targets — providing near‑term buying interest and signaling that many analysts view the pullback as an entry point. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Small IP tuck‑in: ActiveOps sold WorkiQ trademarks to Microsoft for $10M — minor strategic asset acquisition with limited near‑term financial impact. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI funding round: Massive funding at OpenAI ($122B reported) is a positive ecosystem signal for Microsoft’s AI partnerships, but benefits are indirect and timing/valuation implications remain uncertain. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Earnings/sentiment hit: MSFT logged its worst quarterly price performance since 2008 as investors worried about the return on large AI capex and slower Copilot adoption — this has driven a sharp pullback and elevated volatility. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: U.K. competition authorities have opened scrutiny of Microsoft’s business software ecosystem, which could lead to remedies increasing costs or reducing pricing power in enterprise segments. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical & insider signals: The stock recently breached long‑term moving averages and there have been notable insider sales; these factors can amplify short‑term downside as technical traders react. Read More.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. IRON Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $9,941,000. PMG Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at about $828,000. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.6% in the second quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 94,120 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,816,000 after buying an additional 2,373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,347,000 after buying an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.2%

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $404.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $464.55.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Microsoft Company Profile

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).