Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-five analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $588.9737.

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush reduced their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore reduced their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price target on Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analyst support and bullish research are drawing buyers — major firms (including Goldman and other brokers) are highlighting MSFT as a rebound candidate and publishing price targets well above current levels, which helps underpin today’s rally. Goldman sees rebound for Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Product and partnership catalysts: Microsoft’s Agent 365 platform is moving to GA with launch partners (supporting enterprise governance for AI agents), and the company is expanding commercial AI tie-ups — tangible signs of enterprise monetization for Copilot/agent products. Reply selected as Microsoft Agent 365 launch partner
• Positive Sentiment: Consumer/PR boost from gaming: fresh details on Forza Horizon 6 and other Xbox updates have driven short‑term positive momentum for MSFT shares tied to Xbox/Xbox Game Pass engagement. Forza Horizon 6 details lift MSFT stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings schedule set — Microsoft will report FY2026 Q3 after the close on April 29; the date focuses attention on Azure growth, backlog metrics and free‑cash‑flow cadence at month‑end. Quarterly earnings release date announced
• Neutral Sentiment: Partner/partner‑ecosystem wins (Azure specializations, platform connectors) keep enterprise pipeline healthy but are incremental to revenue near term. Centrilogic earns Azure specialization
• Negative Sentiment: Executive turnover: another senior departure and the planned retirement of longtime exec Julia Liuson raise governance and continuity questions for developer tools and platform strategy; exits can sap sentiment until leadership transitions settle. Julia Liuson to retire Another senior departure at Microsoft
• Negative Sentiment: AI capex and Copilot adoption concerns continue to weigh: investors remain worried about rising infrastructure spend, slower-than-expected Copilot monetization and whether those costs will compress near‑term margins. That narrative has driven much of the stock’s recent re‑rating. Why MSFT stock has been shredded
• Negative Sentiment: Security and legal noise: reports of a developer account lock affecting VeraCrypt updates and an amended lawsuit filing referencing Microsoft add episodic risk that can amplify short‑term volatility. VeraCrypt account termination / Windows update disruption reports

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $374.33 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $394.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $459.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. Microsoft has a one year low of $353.10 and a one year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after acquiring an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).