Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given New $635.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target reduced by Citigroup from $660.00 to $635.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a buy rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Rothschild Redb downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $655.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $599.72.

Microsoft Stock Down 10.0%

MSFT stock opened at $433.50 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $476.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $500.21. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 33.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Koa Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. Koa Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,346 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $9,958,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 170,254 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $82,338,000 after acquiring an additional 5,065 shares during the period. West Bancorporation Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. West Bancorporation Inc. now owns 9,248 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,473,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspen Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Aspen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,128 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,931,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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: Q2 beat on top and bottom lines — EPS $4.14 and revenue $81.27B, with Microsoft Cloud topping $50B and Azure still growing robustly—this underpins the long‑term growth thesis. Microsoft beats Wall Street expectations
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI and AI revenue contribution is material — the company reported meaningful gains tied to OpenAI that help justify the AI investment narrative. Microsoft gained $7.6 billion from OpenAI
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 200 AI accelerator — a strategic product for in‑house AI capability, but commercial impact/timing is uncertain and longer term. Microsoft launches Maia 200 AI accelerator
• Negative Sentiment: Record AI capex spooked investors — Q2 capex (~$37.5B) rose sharply and management signaled continued heavy spending; markets worried about the timing and ROI of that investment. Microsoft sheds $430bn in market value as AI spending spooks investors
• Negative Sentiment: Investor reaction: a historic one‑day market‑cap wipe and broad tech weakness as traders rotated into names (like Meta) that showed clearer near‑term payoff from AI spend. Microsoft lost $357 billion in market cap as stock plunged
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts trimmed targets and flagged near‑term risk — several firms cut price targets or adjusted estimates citing slower Azure growth and heavier capex, increasing near‑term downside risk. These analysts slash their forecasts on Microsoft

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).