Evercore ISI Lowers Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $580.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price reduced by stock analysts at Evercore ISI from $640.00 to $580.00 in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price suggests a potential upside of 35.36% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on MSFT. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $641.00 target price (down previously from $645.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $601.00.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $53.16 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $428.47. 26,402,321 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,422,932. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $477.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $500.68. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $49,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Beat on top and bottom lines — Microsoft delivered stronger-than-expected EPS and revenue, and Microsoft Cloud (Azure + related) topped $50B quarterly, validating demand for AI/cloud services. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI/contract backlog lifts future revenue visibility — Microsoft reported a large contracted backlog and meaningful direct OpenAI-related gains, increasing booked future revenue (RPO/backlog). This supports medium-term Azure growth expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic AI investments and product moves — New Maia 200 AI chip, multiple data-center approvals and AI co‑innovation partnerships keep Microsoft positioned competitively in infrastructure and enterprise AI monetization. (Analysts at some shops reiterated/raised targets.) Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst reactions — Some firms trimmed near-term price targets or noted margin pressure, while others raised targets or kept Buy ratings; the net effect is divergent views that can widen intraday moves. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro and sector context — Tech peers (e.g., Meta) showed clearer near-term AI payoff in ad revenue, which accentuated the market’s comparison between AI spending vs. visible monetization. That relative performance is driving rotation within mega-cap tech. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Record capex and AI spending worried investors — Microsoft disclosed very large capital expenditures and data-center spending (reported >$37B capex), raising concerns that heavy near-term investment is outpacing visible revenue/margin improvement. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Slowing Azure growth vs. expectations — Azure/cloud growth decelerated vs. prior quarters (investors wanted acceleration given the spending surge), prompting sell-side and quant repricing and the after‑hours pullback. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market punished stock despite beat — Coverage and commentary (Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC summaries) emphasize that investors now demand clearer, near-term proof that AI investments will translate into faster revenue and margin expansion; that skepticism drove the immediate selloff. Read More.

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).