Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 1% After Analyst Upgrade

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price shot up 1% on Thursday after Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to a buy rating. Phillip Securities now has a $485.00 price target on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $411.84 and last traded at $409.43. 25,140,715 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 35,422,613 shares. The stock had previously closed at $405.21.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial lowered Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Melius Research set a $430.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Monday, February 9th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.88.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI story remains a major bullish driver after reports said its new cybersecurity system, MDASH, outperformed Anthropic and OpenAI in a benchmark test and uncovered new Windows vulnerabilities, reinforcing the company’s AI and security capabilities. Microsoft’s multi-agent AI system tops Anthropic’s Mythos on cybersecurity benchmark
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain upbeat on MSFT, with Wedbush reiterating an outperform view and other reports saying Microsoft’s OpenAI restructuring may pull cash forward and improve the economics of the partnership. Microsoft gets an outperform rating from Wedbush
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles argued Microsoft’s AI business is still scaling quickly, with commentary that the company is becoming an AI infrastructure powerhouse and could benefit from expanded AI deals beyond OpenAI. Exclusive: Microsoft eyeing startup deals for life after OpenAI
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI-related headlines also supported sentiment, as Microsoft’s CEO testified about the company’s OpenAI investments and multiple reports framed the deal as potentially unlocking more value for MSFT over time. Microsoft’s C.E.O. testified about the company’s OpenAI investments
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft-owned LinkedIn announced plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, a cost-control move that may help margins but also signals ongoing restructuring pressure inside the company. LinkedIn plans 5% workforce cut, Reuters says while tech layoffs top 100,000 in 2026
• Negative Sentiment: The biggest overhang is regulatory risk: the UK competition regulator opened an antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s business software dominance, which could lead to targeted remedies if the company is designated as having strategic market status. UK opens antitrust probe into Microsoft’s business software

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. BLVD Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,641,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the third quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,371,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,002,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the third quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 700 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0%

The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $397.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $442.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 21.67%.

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).