DA Davidson Reiterates Buy Rating for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at DA Davidson in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $550.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock. DA Davidson’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 23.26% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Argus lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. CLSA restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $647.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $556.76.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $55.68 during trading on Thursday, hitting $446.22. The company had a trading volume of 58,732,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,205,906. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $396.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $405.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings beat: Microsoft reported $4.74 in adjusted EPS versus the $4.24 consensus and $90.01 billion in revenue versus estimates of $87.62 billion. Revenue rose 17.7% year over year, while profit increased substantially. Microsoft Beats Wall Street Expectations, With 31% Jump in Profits
• Positive Sentiment: Azure momentum exceeded expectations: Azure revenue grew 43%, ahead of forecasts near 40%, and annual Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time. Intelligent Cloud revenue rose 32% to $39.3 billion, reinforcing Microsoft’s position as a leading beneficiary of enterprise AI demand. Microsoft Tops Quarterly Cloud Growth Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: AI monetization is improving: Microsoft 365 Copilot surpassed 30 million paid seats, while management described a shift toward usage-based “per seat plus consumption” revenue. Investors viewed the Azure and Copilot adoption figures as evidence that AI spending is beginning to generate returns. Microsoft Says AI Growth Will Depend on Usage
• Positive Sentiment: Spending concerns eased: Microsoft held its capital-expenditure outlook steady rather than following peers with another increase. Management also said GPU investment can be slowed if demand weakens, while the company expects healthy cash generation. Analysts responded with multiple price-target increases, including BMO’s move to $515 and Goldman Sachs’ move to $640. Microsoft Keeps Capex Forecast Unchanged
• Neutral Sentiment: The results helped lift broader technology and AI-related stocks, including clean-energy and power companies viewed as suppliers to data-center expansion. This supports sentiment toward Microsoft’s ecosystem but does not directly change Microsoft’s fundamentals. Plug Power Stock Jumps as Microsoft Earnings Spotlight AI Energy Demand
• Negative Sentiment: Risks remain: Microsoft faces a reported cloud-security flaw that could have exposed customers, a U.K. investigation into Microsoft 365 subscription marketing, and several shareholder securities lawsuits. These issues were overshadowed by the earnings beat but could create regulatory, legal, or reputational costs. Wiz Reports Potential Microsoft Cloud Flaw

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).