Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and forty have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $561.2045.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. President Capital increased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price target (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 7th.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $441.31 on Friday. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $403.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $433.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.27, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled new in-house AI models at Build, including MAI-Code-1 and MAI-Thinking-1, signaling it is reducing reliance on OpenAI and Anthropic while lowering costs for developers.
• Positive Sentiment: The company introduced Microsoft Scout, an always-on personal agent for Microsoft 365, and other agentic AI tools, reinforcing the view that Microsoft is expanding its AI monetization opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia deepened their partnership on AI PCs and agentic computing across Windows and Azure, which investors viewed as a major catalyst for the Windows ecosystem and future hardware/software demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also highlighted its quantum computing progress with the Majorana 2 chip, adding to the company’s long-term innovation narrative.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts and media reports remained constructive, with commentary pointing to strong Azure upside, AI demand, and a favorable long-term valuation case for MSFT.
• Neutral Sentiment: Build 2026 generated broad attention across the market, but some reports noted Microsoft teased a Copilot “Super App” without fully unveiling it, which may have tempered expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Judson Althoff sold 15,500 Microsoft shares in an SEC-disclosed transaction, which can create short-term investor concern even though the sale was relatively modest versus his remaining holdings.
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage cited profit-taking and concerns about capital intensity, margin pressure, and a possible AI policy overhang, helping explain the pullback despite the positive product news.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 29,083 shares of company stock worth $12,710,152 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Blue Edge Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Blue Edge Capital LLC now owns 22,813 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,445,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. First Nebraska Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,641,000. Financial Solutions Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,915,000. Dala Group LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter worth approximately $1,796,000. Finally, Ramiah Investment Group boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% in the first quarter. Ramiah Investment Group now owns 1,445 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $535,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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).