Recent Research Analysts’ Ratings Updates for Microsoft (MSFT)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has recently received a number of price target changes and ratings updates:

• 1/30/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $540.00 to $530.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 1/30/2025 – Microsoft had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada. They now have a $500.00 price target on the stock.
• 1/30/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Mizuho from $510.00 to $500.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 1/30/2025 – Microsoft had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at DA Davidson. They now have a $425.00 price target on the stock.
• 1/30/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at UBS Group AG from $525.00 to $510.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 1/29/2025 – Microsoft had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They now have a $509.00 price target on the stock.
• 1/27/2025 – Microsoft had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Piper Sandler. They now have a $520.00 price target on the stock.
• 1/24/2025 – Microsoft had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Guggenheim.
• 1/22/2025 – Microsoft had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $548.00 to $540.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 1/22/2025 – Microsoft was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 1/17/2025 – Microsoft is now covered by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They set an “overweight” rating and a $509.00 price target on the stock.
• 1/16/2025 – Microsoft was upgraded by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald to a “strong-buy” rating. They now have a $509.00 price target on the stock.
• 1/14/2025 – Microsoft was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.
• 1/6/2025 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Piper Sandler from $470.00 to $520.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 1/6/2025 – Microsoft was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 12/23/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Loop Capital from $500.00 to $550.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 12/20/2024 – Microsoft was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.
• 12/18/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $475.00 to $515.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 12/18/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at UBS Group AG from $500.00 to $525.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 12/13/2024 – Microsoft had its price target raised by analysts at Mizuho from $480.00 to $510.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 12/12/2024 – Microsoft was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $413.29 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $432.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.01. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,490,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after purchasing an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after purchasing an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.