Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective increased by Morgan Stanley from $582.00 to $625.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted 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. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $614.45.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $511.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $512.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $462.06.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. 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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Newton One Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. 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.