Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Microsoft Corporation has been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by 32 brokerages, with 29 analysts giving it a buy rating.
• The stock's average 12-month price target is $612.54, reflecting a positive outlook from the investment community.
• Microsoft recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, with the dividend yield at 0.7%.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $612.5357.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

MSFT opened at $502.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $507.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $445.58. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,850 shares of company stock worth $4,406,512. 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 bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $1,375,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

About Microsoft

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.

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