Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $608.00 at Cantor Fitzgerald

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its price target boosted by Cantor Fitzgerald from $522.00 to $608.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the software giant’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $567.07.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $501.61 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $469.18 and its 200-day moving average is $423.62. The company has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. 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 has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $85,604,000 after acquiring an additional 8,773 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 8.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 138.8% in the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $502,077,000 after purchasing an additional 788,297 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher Azure prices could support growth and margins. BNP Paribas said Microsoft may gain another growth lever as higher Azure prices are introduced to renewing customers, assigning a $549 price target. Microsoft’s Azure Has Another Growth Lever Waiting in the Wings, Analyst Says
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their outlooks on AI demand. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted its Microsoft price target from $522 to $608 and maintained an overweight rating, citing opportunities in AI and cybersecurity. Erste Group also raised its earnings estimates. Cantor Fitzgerald Raises Microsoft Price Target to $608
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure demand remains substantial. Microsoft and Anthropic reportedly represent $87.7 billion of the $103 billion contract backlog at AI infrastructure provider Nscale, highlighting the scale of enterprise AI spending and potential Azure demand. Microsoft and Anthropic dominate Nscale’s contract backlog
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder-return and valuation support added to the bullish case. Bill Ackman described Microsoft as a core holding after building a roughly $2.4 billion position, while Microsoft’s dividend increase and strong software franchise were cited as additional attractions.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is adding a fourth cloud region in Hyderabad, improving geographic resilience, although the company provided no site-level capacity or investment details. Satya Nadella’s expected attendance at a Trump-Xi state dinner could provide diplomatic visibility but has limited direct financial impact.
• Negative Sentiment: Copyright and AI-regulation concerns remain overhangs. Publisher testimony in ongoing copyright disputes has intensified questions about whether AI products substitute for original content. Microsoft executives have also warned that divergent AI rules could affect industry economics. Microsoft Slips as AI Testimony Sharpens Copyright Risk
• Negative Sentiment: New gaming-advertising initiatives generated investor skepticism. A patent covering contextual in-game advertisements raised concerns about user experience and monetization strategy. Microsoft Stock Slips on Xbox Patent for Ads in Video Games
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are weighing elevated AI capital spending, cloud-security concerns following the Hugging Face incident and the possibility that expectations are already priced in after Microsoft’s powerful summer advance. Redburn’s lower $440 target underscores the disagreement over valuation.

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.