JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $575.00 to $550.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the software giant’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target points to a potential upside of 28.18% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $640.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $590.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $601.00.

Microsoft Trading Down 10.9%

Microsoft stock traded down $52.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $429.07. 26,402,321 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,422,932. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.19, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $477.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $500.68.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Beat on top and bottom lines — Microsoft delivered stronger-than-expected EPS and revenue, and Microsoft Cloud (Azure + related) topped $50B quarterly, validating demand for AI/cloud services. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI/contract backlog lifts future revenue visibility — Microsoft reported a large contracted backlog and meaningful direct OpenAI-related gains, increasing booked future revenue (RPO/backlog). This supports medium-term Azure growth expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic AI investments and product moves — New Maia 200 AI chip, multiple data-center approvals and AI co‑innovation partnerships keep Microsoft positioned competitively in infrastructure and enterprise AI monetization. (Analysts at some shops reiterated/raised targets.) Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst reactions — Some firms trimmed near-term price targets or noted margin pressure, while others raised targets or kept Buy ratings; the net effect is divergent views that can widen intraday moves. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro and sector context — Tech peers (e.g., Meta) showed clearer near-term AI payoff in ad revenue, which accentuated the market’s comparison between AI spending vs. visible monetization. That relative performance is driving rotation within mega-cap tech. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Record capex and AI spending worried investors — Microsoft disclosed very large capital expenditures and data-center spending (reported >$37B capex), raising concerns that heavy near-term investment is outpacing visible revenue/margin improvement. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Slowing Azure growth vs. expectations — Azure/cloud growth decelerated vs. prior quarters (investors wanted acceleration given the spending surge), prompting sell-side and quant repricing and the after‑hours pullback. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market punished stock despite beat — Coverage and commentary (Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC summaries) emphasize that investors now demand clearer, near-term proof that AI investments will translate into faster revenue and margin expansion; that skepticism drove the immediate selloff. Read More.

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).