Microsoft's (MSFT) "Outperform" Rating Reaffirmed at Oppenheimer

Key Points

• Oppenheimer reaffirmed its "Outperform" rating on Microsoft but cut its price target to $515 (from $630), implying roughly a 22.6% upside from the current share price.
• Other brokers have trimmed targets and mixed their views—Wells Fargo, Cantor Fitzgerald and Rothschild lowered price objectives while Weiss downgraded to a hold—leaving a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $570.
• Microsoft recently beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $4.14 vs. $3.86 and revenue of $81.27B (up 16.7% year-over-year), and its upcoming earnings are the key near-term catalyst that could drive the stock.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reaffirmed by Oppenheimer in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $515.00 price target on the software giant's stock, down from their previous price target of $630.00. Oppenheimer's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 22.59% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $615.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $590.00 to $502.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $570.00.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of MSFT opened at $420.09 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $393.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $450.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

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

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant's stock worth $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant's stock worth $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $50,664,631,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Legendary investor Michael Burry disclosed a new MSFT position, signaling conviction from a notable value investor and supporting demand into the earnings period. Michael Burry just bought the Microsoft stock dip
• Positive Sentiment: UBS reiterated a “buy” rating on MSFT, providing sell-side endorsement that can underpin investor confidence ahead of results. UBS reiterates buy rating
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced an A$25 billion investment in Australia for AI, cloud, security and skills through 2029 — a large-capex commitment that supports long-term revenue and cloud expansion. Microsoft Announces A$25B Investment in Australia
• Positive Sentiment: Options flow ahead of Mag‑7 earnings shows bullish positioning (calls expensive vs puts), which can amplify upside if MSFT posts strong results. Bullish signals ahead of Mag-7 earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming Q3 earnings (April 29) are the single biggest near-term catalyst — results and guidance will likely dictate the next major move in MSFT. Microsoft Q3 earnings preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro headlines (Fed rate decision this week, renewed Iran tensions and rising oil) are creating broader market volatility that can overshadow company-specific news. 5 Things to Know Before the Stock Market Opens
• Neutral Sentiment: Product and ecosystem updates — Windows Update controls, Insider program changes, partner activity and channel wins — improve the product narrative but have incremental near-term revenue impact. Windows Update & Insider program coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Anthropic published findings describing ~2,000 AI flaws that ripple into the ecosystem; Microsoft and others are racing to respond — increased scrutiny and remediation could raise costs or slow product rollouts. Anthropic finds 2,000 AI flaws
• Negative Sentiment: Workforce reductions and buyouts across tech (including Microsoft) continue to draw headlines; while they may cut costs, they also raise near-term execution and morale questions. Why companies offer voluntary buyouts
• Negative Sentiment: Market skeptics are questioning April’s momentum rally; a broader pullback would likely pressure MSFT with other large-cap tech names. Record-setting momentum rally drawing doubters

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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