Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Overweight Rating from Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating for Microsoft, setting a price target of $625.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.47% from the current price.
• Microsoft's recent quarterly earnings report showed a 36.15% net margin and 18.1% year-over-year revenue growth, with an EPS of $3.65, surpassing estimates by $0.30.
• Currently, 71.13% of Microsoft’s stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds, reflecting strong interest from large investors.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reissued by equities research analysts at Barclays in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $625.00 price target on the software giant's stock. Barclays's price target points to a potential upside of 23.47% from the stock's current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7%

MSFT stock traded down $3.44 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $506.20. 3,354,476 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,191,520. The company has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $508.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $446.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. PMV Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant's stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Seek First Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant's stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,373,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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