The Goldman Sachs Group Upgrades Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to Strong-Buy

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wolfe Research cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Microsoft from $700.00 to $665.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $630.37.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.4%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $470.67 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.48, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $486.47 and a 200-day moving average of $503.47.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs initiated coverage and analysts remain bullish, providing a sizeable price target that supports upside conviction for MSFT. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Azure adoption and partner wins continue: SymphonyAI announced multiple products powered by Microsoft Foundry/Azure, and Microsoft is pushing Copilot Checkout and Copilot training programs—these reinforce Azure consumption and commercial AI monetization pathways. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s public pledge drew political attention and praise (including from President Trump), which lowers regulatory blowback risk — a PR/regulatory win whose financial impact depends on how Microsoft implements the commitments. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are reacting to the commitment to pay higher power and infrastructure costs for AI data centers—this raises near‑term cost and margin uncertainty and is cited as a direct reason for today’s sell pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro headwinds: a rotation from growth into value and renewed Fed/rate uncertainty increases duration risk for large-cap tech, amplifying downside when expectations for long‑dated AI payoff are uncertain. Read More.

About Microsoft

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).