Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives $564.27 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-seven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $564.2667.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, August 10th. Evercore set a $528.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock valued at $50,655,795 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Montgomery Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to expand data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032—more than triple its current footprint. The scale of the investment underscores management’s confidence in long-term Azure and AI demand, although the spending commitment also increases financial risk. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its partnership with Talkdesk, allowing customers to buy contact-center AI software with existing Azure commitments through the Azure Marketplace. The arrangement could increase Azure consumption and make enterprise AI adoption easier. Talkdesk and Microsoft expand partnership
• Positive Sentiment: TrueFoundry’s AI Gateway is now available in the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another enterprise AI workload to Azure’s commercial ecosystem. Microsoft is also promoting enforceable privacy controls for schools using AI, which may support adoption in sensitive education markets. TrueFoundry AI Gateway availability
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and bullish commentary continue to point to Azure’s more-than-$100 billion annual revenue, rising Copilot adoption and Microsoft’s strong profitability as reasons the stock could outperform. However, the shares remain valued near 28 times earnings, leaving less room for disappointment. Microsoft bull case
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that the AI infrastructure buildup will pressure free cash flow and returns on capital. A separate analysis downgraded Microsoft, arguing that the company’s capital-expenditure rotation does not support an optimistic outlook. Microsoft capital expenditure downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Higher Treasury yields are weighing on expensive technology stocks, while Dynamics 365 Activate faces questions about slowing growth and softer bookings despite its effort to win Salesforce migrations. Microsoft also disclosed a record Patch Tuesday involving 974 vulnerabilities, including two exploited Windows zero-days, highlighting ongoing security and reputational risks. Microsoft Patch Tuesday vulnerabilities

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $492.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.42, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $453.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $418.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.