Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Keeps “Buy” Rating at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated their buy rating on shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a report issued on Monday morning.

MSFT has been the subject of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $569.29.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $509.22 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $480.07 and its 200 day moving average is $427.02. Microsoft has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% 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 Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Montgomery Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $26,000. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Fiduciary Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot experience featuring integrated Office tools, Chat, Cowork and Autopilot capabilities. Jefferies said the products create potential usage-based revenue streams, while analysts expect enterprise adoption to build gradually. Microsoft’s Autopilot opens new AI revenue path
• Positive Sentiment: The Copilot overhaul is positioned as a stronger competitive response to Anthropic’s Claude. Microsoft also added GitHub’s coding engine to Copilot, allowing office workers to create applications and dashboards using natural-language instructions, potentially expanding paid AI usage. Microsoft puts GitHub coding engine inside Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reaffirmed its Buy rating, and William Blair maintained a bullish view based on Copilot monetization potential and Microsoft’s expanding enterprise AI platform. Azure’s reported scale and backlog also support the long-term investment case. Microsoft Buy rating backed by Copilot monetization
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is extending AI partnerships, including a Nokia collaboration that combines Nokia’s telecommunications data with Microsoft Fabric for AI-driven network operations. The opportunity could broaden cloud demand, although financial benefits are not yet quantified. Nokia and Microsoft expand their AI reach
• Neutral Sentiment: TTEC Digital’s 11th consecutive Microsoft AI Business Solutions Inner Circle award highlights the strength of Microsoft’s partner ecosystem, but the recognition is not expected to materially affect near-term revenue. TTEC Digital earns Microsoft AI award
• Negative Sentiment: Reported AI usage shows a sizable regional gap—28.8% in the Global North versus 16.2% in the Global South—raising questions about the pace and breadth of Copilot adoption. Microsoft AI adoption gap
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is moving deeper into enterprise software, creating another competitive threat to Microsoft’s productivity, cloud and AI offerings. Meanwhile, additional layoffs and restructuring may reinforce concerns about execution and workforce disruption. Meta puts Microsoft on notice
• Negative Sentiment: Plans to more than triple data-center capacity by 2032 could support Azure growth but require enormous capital investment, increasing pressure to convert AI demand into cash flow and profits. Investor questions about AI subsidies and regulation add further uncertainty. Microsoft data center expansion

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.