Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 1% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Microsoft shares rose 1% after Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to a buy rating and set a $485 price target. The stock traded around $409, with volume below its recent average.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with 39 Buy ratings and only seven Hold ratings. MarketBeat data shows a Moderate Buy consensus and a higher consensus target price of $560.88.
• Microsoft continues to face both opportunity and risk from its AI and OpenAI strategy, while a major near-term headwind is a UK antitrust investigation into its business software dominance. The company also recently posted better-than-expected earnings and revenue.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) rose 1% on Thursday after Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to a buy rating. Phillip Securities now has a $485.00 price target on the stock. Microsoft traded as high as $411.84 and last traded at $409.43. Approximately 25,140,715 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 35,422,613 shares. The stock had previously closed at $405.21.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MSFT. HSBC cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 price objective (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 27th. DZ Bank restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.88.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI story remains a major bullish driver after reports said its new cybersecurity system, MDASH, outperformed Anthropic and OpenAI in a benchmark test and uncovered new Windows vulnerabilities, reinforcing the company’s AI and security capabilities. Microsoft's multi-agent AI system tops Anthropic's Mythos on cybersecurity benchmark
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain upbeat on MSFT, with Wedbush reiterating an outperform view and other reports saying Microsoft’s OpenAI restructuring may pull cash forward and improve the economics of the partnership. Microsoft gets an outperform rating from Wedbush
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles argued Microsoft’s AI business is still scaling quickly, with commentary that the company is becoming an AI infrastructure powerhouse and could benefit from expanded AI deals beyond OpenAI. Exclusive: Microsoft eyeing startup deals for life after OpenAI
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI-related headlines also supported sentiment, as Microsoft’s CEO testified about the company’s OpenAI investments and multiple reports framed the deal as potentially unlocking more value for MSFT over time. Microsoft's C.E.O. testified about the company's OpenAI investments
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft-owned LinkedIn announced plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, a cost-control move that may help margins but also signals ongoing restructuring pressure inside the company. LinkedIn plans 5% workforce cut, Reuters says while tech layoffs top 100,000 in 2026
• Negative Sentiment: The biggest overhang is regulatory risk: the UK competition regulator opened an antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s business software dominance, which could lead to targeted remedies if the company is designated as having strategic market status. UK opens antitrust probe into Microsoft's business software

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $397.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $442.33. The company has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 21.67%.

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).

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