New Street Research Raises Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $675.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at New Street Research from $670.00 to $675.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. New Street Research’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 55.71% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective (down from $610.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Rothschild Redb cut Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $597.73.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $433.50 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $476.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $500.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.48% and a net margin of 39.04%.The company’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft beat Wall Street on top and bottom lines — EPS $4.14 and revenue $81.27B, showing continued cloud- and AI-driven revenue growth. Microsoft beats Wall Street expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial backlog (RPO) surged — companies report a very large contracted backlog (reported at ~$625B), signaling strong demand for Azure and AI services over coming years. Demand backlog doubles to $625B
• Positive Sentiment: New customer wins for Azure AI capacity — reports that Perplexity signed a multi-year cloud deal with Microsoft (reported at ~$750M) reinforce Azure demand and ecosystem monetization. Perplexity signs $750M deal with Microsoft
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reaction is mixed — many firms reaffirm “buy/overweight” but trimmed price targets; the Street remains broadly positive on the long-term AI thesis while re-pricing near-term expectations. Analysts slash forecasts after Q2
• Neutral Sentiment: Product/tech progress continues — Microsoft announced its Maia 200 AI accelerator and reiterated use of both in‑house and third‑party chips, a strategic signal for vertical integration even as it still buys GPUs. Microsoft launches Maia 200
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy AI capex and slower Azure growth spooked investors — Microsoft reported ~$37.5B in capex and guided to slightly lower sequential Azure growth, prompting a sharp selloff as traders question near-term returns on massive infrastructure spending. Why Microsoft tumbled 10%
• Negative Sentiment: Market impact and sentiment shock — the earnings reaction triggered sector-wide selling, software ETFs fell and MSFT’s market cap dropped materially, increasing volatility and re-rating near-term multiples. Software ETFs sink as MSFT stumbles
• Negative Sentiment: Investor litigation and scrutiny — law firms have announced investigations and outreach to investors, a sign of heightened legal/regulatory attention after the volatile reaction. Investor investigations announced

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).