Microsoft's (MSFT) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Key Points

• Benchmark reiterated a "Buy" rating on Microsoft with a $450 price target (about 6.61% upside), while MarketBeat's consensus across analysts is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $563.72.
• Microsoft beat Q results, reporting $4.14 EPS vs. $3.86 expected and $81.27 billion in revenue vs. $80.28 billion, with revenue up 16.7% year‑over‑year.
• Investor sentiment has been pressured by analyst price‑target cuts and concern after the reworked OpenAI partnership (loss of exclusivity) plus legal/regulatory overhangs, despite large institutional holdings and recent insider trades.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by equities researchers at Benchmark in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $450.00 target price on the software giant's stock. Benchmark's target price would suggest a potential upside of 6.61% from the stock's previous close.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $540.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "hold" rating and set a $392.00 target price (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $500.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $563.72.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $422.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $393.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $449.40. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant's stock worth $148,060,557,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant's stock worth $58,624,690,000 after acquiring an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,664,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Legendary investor Michael Burry disclosed a new MSFT position, signaling a contrarian buy-the-dip view that can attract value-focused flows. Michael Burry Disagrees With the AI Narrative, Buys Microsoft Stock and 2 Unexpected Names
• Positive Sentiment: Accenture plans to roll out Microsoft 365 Copilot to ~743,000 employees — a large commercial win that supports Copilot monetization and Azure demand. Accenture to roll out Copilot to all 743,000 employees
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a major A$25B investment in Australia for AI and cloud infrastructure — a long‑term revenue and capex commitment that underlines hyperscale expansion. Microsoft (MSFT) Announces A$25B Investment in Australia’s AI and Cloud Infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Q3 earnings preview: consensus expects ~ $4.06–4.14 EPS and ~$81B revenue; Azure growth and Copilot monetization are the key near‑term catalysts that could re‑rate the stock either way. Microsoft (MSFT) Stock: Analyst Predictions Ahead of Q3 Earnings Report
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts (~reported ~7% of workforce option), a cost‑management step that lowers medium‑term expense risk but also signals pressure to reallocate spending toward AI. Tech Job Cuts: Microsoft Offers Voluntary Buyouts
• Neutral Sentiment: Service interruptions (Outlook sign‑in issues) drew headlines but are operational/temporary and unlikely to materially affect fundamentals. Microsoft Outlook outage coverage
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI partnership reworked: Microsoft’s exclusive license was ended and revenue‑sharing was curtailed/capped — removal of exclusivity lowers MSFT’s AI moat in investor eyes and sparked an immediate share weakness. Microsoft and OpenAI gut exclusive deal
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts cut price targets after the partnership change and amid capex/margin concerns (examples: BMO, Cantor Fitzgerald, Oppenheimer lowered PTs), increasing near‑term downside perception. Coverage of recent price‑target cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and regulatory overhangs: the Musk v. Altman / OpenAI trial and a Slack antitrust suit over Teams bundling add litigation/regulatory risk to MSFT’s OpenAI exposure and product bundling businesses. Coverage of Musk‑Altman trial and Microsoft exposure

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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