BMO Capital Markets Lowers Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $625.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $650.00 to $625.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the software giant’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 20.70% from the stock’s current price.

MSFT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Microsoft to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $634.67.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $517.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $513.81 and a 200-day moving average of $486.83.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,641,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. PMV Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $178,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Seek First Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Level Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,333,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.