Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Lowered to $520.00 at Bank of America

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective reduced by Bank of America from $640.00 to $520.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $611.87.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $470.28 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.45, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $477.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $500.97. 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 has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

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 the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s 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 owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% during the 2nd 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 purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched the Maia 200 AI inference chip, which the company says delivers roughly 30% better performance-per-dollar and will be deployed in U.S. data centers — a direct play on lowering inference costs, improving gross margins for Azure/Copilot, and reducing reliance on third-party GPUs. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Sell‑side and independent analysts are broadly bullish ahead of Q2, forecasting strong Azure and AI adoption that could drive another “robust” quarter; several previews expect revenue and AI‑driven growth to beat or justify premium multiples. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming Q2 earnings (Jan. 28) and the Fed meeting make this a volatile catalyst week — investors are focused on forward guidance and margins (not just trailing revenue), so the stock could swing on the tone of management’s commentary. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price‑target moves are mixed: some firms trimmed targets (Bank of America lowered its PT), while others maintain buy/outperform ratings — this produces conflicting near‑term signals despite a generally bullish long‑term view. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk: a class‑action suit targets an AI hiring tool (Eightfold) used by Microsoft and others, raising headline risk around AI product governance and potential reputational/legal costs. 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).