Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given “Buy” Rating at DA Davidson

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at DA Davidson in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $650.00 target price on the software giant’s stock. DA Davidson’s target price points to a potential upside of 53.00% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. HSBC upped their target price on Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Redburn Partners set a $450.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $599.72.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT traded down $56.80 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $424.83. 96,803,279 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,067,568. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $477.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $500.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after buying an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,714,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Beat on revenue and EPS; Azure and Microsoft Cloud still growing strongly (Azure +39%, Microsoft Cloud topped $50B), supporting the multi?year AI monetization thesis. Microsoft Q2 Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI is already contributing meaningful revenue and backlog (reports of ~$7.6B benefit), giving MSFT a pipeline of contracted demand that underpins future cloud bookings. Microsoft gained $7.6 billion from OpenAI
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic positioning in AI could strengthen—reports say Microsoft is among suitors discussing a very large OpenAI funding round, which would deepen its partnership and potential upside. Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon in talks to invest up to $60B in OpenAI
• Neutral Sentiment: Coworking analyst views — several firms reaffirm Buy/Outperform ratings even as some trim targets, indicating debate between near?term caution and long?term conviction; watch analyst notes for guidance emphasis. Analyst ratings coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction — the post?earnings sell?off has been severe and is dragging major indices; traders are voting on near?term profitability of AI spending rather than the beat itself. Meta and Microsoft are making big moves in opposite directions after earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Record AI capex and margin concerns — investors focused on sharply higher infrastructure spending (reported capex ~ $37.5B) and weaker Azure growth vs. expectations, which compress near?term margins and cash flow. Why Wall Street Sold After a Solid Earnings Beat
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and refreshed guidance worries — multiple shops trimmed price targets and some commentary emphasized slower Azure cadence and heavier reinvestment, fueling the sell?off. Analysts slash forecasts
• Negative Sentiment: Risk debates surfaced — analysts and commentaries flagged concentration of future contracted revenue (RPO) in OpenAI and margin risks from shifting mix toward AI hardware, which could increase execution risk. Non?obvious AI risks analysis

Microsoft Company Profile

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).