Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Rating Increased to Moderate Buy at CLSA

CLSA upgraded shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to a moderate buy rating in a research note released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. China Renaissance lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Bank of America started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $557.46.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $402.29 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $400.07 and its 200-day moving average is $410.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,060,557,000 after buying an additional 6,388,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after buying an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,664,631,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded Azure partnership with AMD should help strengthen its AI infrastructure, improve cloud capacity, and support long-term revenue growth. Microsoft expands AMD partnership with Helios AI infrastructure deployment on Azure
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst notes suggest Microsoft remains attractive heading into earnings, with bullish commentary around Azure growth, AI spending, and valuation. Microsoft Stock Price Offers ‘Attractive Entry Point,’ Says Deutsche Bank Ahead of Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Morningstar said Microsoft looks undervalued relative to its long-term cloud and AI growth prospects, which supports the stock’s valuation case. Microsoft Is A Value Stock? Morningstar Says Yes — Here’s Why
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s upcoming fiscal Q4 earnings on July 29 are expected to be a major test of AI monetization, Azure growth, and Copilot adoption, so traders are waiting for confirmation before pushing the stock much higher. Microsoft earnings to spotlight Azure growth, AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: A securities fraud class action has been filed against Microsoft over alleged misleading claims about Copilot and Azure, adding legal overhang and headline risk for the stock. MSFT Lawsuit Notice: Microsoft Copilot Functionality Issues and 10% Stock Drop Trigger Securities Fraud Class Action
• Negative Sentiment: Criticism that Microsoft’s Copilot strategy is underperforming, combined with concerns about heavy AI spending, is keeping investors cautious about near-term upside. Better “Magnificent Seven” Stock: Alphabet vs. Microsoft

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).