Microsoft’s (MSFT) Market Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Citizens Jmp

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at Citizens Jmp in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $550.00 price objective on the software giant’s stock. Citizens Jmp’s target price points to a potential upside of 8.82% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on MSFT. Weiss Ratings upgraded Microsoft from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, CLSA reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $564.27.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $505.41 on Tuesday. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $458.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $420.22. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.14, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Montgomery Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are reassessing the bearish case for artificial-intelligence spending. Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, enterprise software and Copilot products are viewed as more direct paths to AI monetization than chip suppliers, supporting the shares despite a broader AI-related selloff. Microsoft stock gains amid AI selloff
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to begin reporting Azure revenue, rather than only its growth rate, could improve transparency and give investors a clearer way to measure the cloud business’s scale and AI returns. Azure has reportedly surpassed $100 billion in revenue, while Copilot adoption and a large cloud backlog remain important growth catalysts. Microsoft to report Azure revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and investor commentary remains broadly constructive, citing accelerating Azure growth, more than 30 million paid Copilot seats, strong cash flow and Microsoft’s ability to fund AI infrastructure internally. Bank of America reportedly raised its price target to $600, while recent analyst coverage remains predominantly bullish. Bank of America price target upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Industry forecasts point to strong secular demand for edge computing and green IT software, areas where Microsoft’s cloud, hybrid-cloud and enterprise platforms are positioned to participate. Edge computing market forecast
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft released a draft “Humanist AI” code of conduct requiring its models to remain under meaningful human control and avoid deceptive or harmful behavior. The move may strengthen trust and reduce regulatory risk, although a slower pace of frontier-AI development could potentially limit commercialization. Microsoft AI code of conduct
• Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to monitor Microsoft’s plans to expand data-center capacity and its heavy AI capital spending. The investments are necessary to meet demand but could pressure free cash flow and returns if revenue growth fails to keep pace. Competition from Alphabet, Amazon and other cloud providers also remains a risk. Microsoft data-center expansion

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.