Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Melius Research Analyst Says

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Melius Research from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. Melius Research’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 22.20% from the stock’s previous close.

MSFT has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Microsoft from $582.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $614.45.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $511.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $512.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $462.06. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. TradeWell Securities LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.4% in the second quarter. TradeWell Securities LLC. now owns 6,968 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,466,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. National Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 5,148 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,561,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Fortitude Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $17,536,000. Momentum Wealth Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Finally, RS Crum Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. RS Crum Inc. now owns 5,408 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,690,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.