Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given Buy Rating at Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a report released on Monday morning,MarketScreener reports.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price objective on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rothschild Redb lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $472.85 on Monday. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.63, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $492.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $503.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic AI/data-engineering deal — Microsoft acquired Seattle data‑engineering startup Osmos to automate data pipelines, strengthening Azure’s data and AI stack and supporting enterprise adoption of “autonomous data engineering.” This is a clear product/capability positive for long‑term cloud and AI revenue. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Big investor interest — Peter Thiel’s Thiel Macro built a large new position in Microsoft in Q3, signaling conviction from a high‑profile investor and potentially drawing other allocators to MSFT. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullishness — prominent analysts (e.g., Dan Ives/Wedbush) call 2026 an “inflection” year for Microsoft and RBC reiterated its buy rating, underpinning buy‑side confidence and supporting higher price targets. Read More. | Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Positive narrative reinforcement — several opinion pieces and newsletters are pushing Microsoft as a preferred AI play vs. competitors, which may support medium‑term flows but offers less immediate market impact than hard news. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism on AI leadership — traders are parsing Microsoft’s AI edge relative to Google, and that debate has pressured the stock as investors weigh differentiation, products, and margin risk in AI. This dynamic likely explains near‑term selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and social chatter — summaries of social media and insider activity show heavy insider sales (no recent buys) and mixed retail sentiment, which can sap confidence among momentum traders. Monitor insider activity disclosures for further market reaction. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reputational/political risk — coverage that Microsoft (and McKinsey) helped fund a politically sensitive US “Davos” hub has drawn criticism; while not a core earnings issue, such PR events can prompt short‑term outflows from ESG‑sensitive funds. 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).