Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts remain bullish on Microsoft: Forty-two of 47 analysts rate the stock a buy, five recommend holding, and the consensus is “Moderate Buy” with an average 12-month price target of approximately $564.
• Strong operating performance is supporting the outlook: Microsoft exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 17.7% year over year. Greater Azure revenue disclosure, Copilot adoption and AI momentum could improve investor visibility, although rising AI infrastructure costs are pressuring cloud margins.
• Insiders have recently sold shares: CEO Satya Nadella sold approximately $43.4 million of stock under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, while insiders sold $53.5 million of shares over the past three months. Institutional investors continue to hold a substantial 71.13% stake.

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the forty-seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $564.2667.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 transaction 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. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 108,335 shares of company stock valued at $53,499,700. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming

Microsoft Stock Down 2.0%

MSFT opened at $499.70 on Friday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $444.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $415.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

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).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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