Stifel Nicolaus Increases Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target to $415.00

Key Points

• Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target on Microsoft from $392 to $415 while keeping a "hold" rating, implying about a 3.26% upside from the current share price.
• Consensus remains tilted positive — MarketBeat shows a "Moderate Buy" consensus with an average target of $555.20 and the bulk of analysts rating MSFT as Buy (40 Buy, 5 Hold, 1 Strong Buy).
• Microsoft reported a quarterly beat with $4.27 EPS and $82.89B revenue (up 18.3% YoY) driven by AI/Copilot and Azure momentum, but shares slid to about $401.89 amid investor concerns over a ~49% jump in capex and related near‑term charges.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from $392.00 to $415.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a "hold" rating on the software giant's stock. Stifel Nicolaus' price objective points to a potential upside of 3.26% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MSFT. Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $555.20.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $22.57 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $401.89. The company had a trading volume of 26,838,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,350,984. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. Microsoft has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $395.09 and a 200-day moving average of $448.65.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.04 by $0.23. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 500.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after buying an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after buying an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat and cloud momentum — Microsoft reported an EPS beat and ~40% Azure growth; AI revenue and Copilot adoption were highlighted as drivers of durable top‑line acceleration. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Copilot and AI monetization — Management said paid Copilot users and AI annual run‑rate (~$37B) are growing, supporting long‑term revenue levers beyond basic cloud. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reactions mixed but largely bullish — Several firms reiterated Buy/Outperform and raised targets after the print, leaving longer‑term analyst conviction intact. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management stance on execution — CFO said supply‑chain limits can be managed even as capex outlook rises, signaling the company expects to deliver capacity without derailing operations. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Record capex and cash‑flow pressure — Investors reacted to a roughly 49% jump in capex and guidance near ~$190B for 2026; purchases of servers/data‑center gear pulled down free cash flow and spooked short‑term holders. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI relationship reset increases competitive risk — OpenAI models are now available on rival clouds (Amazon Bedrock preview), reducing Microsoft’s prior cloud exclusivity upside. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: One‑time charges and workforce moves — Microsoft flagged a ~$900M voluntary‑retirement charge and said headcount will decline, adding near‑term noise to results. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large shareholder moves and regulatory risk — Some funds trimmed positions and EU regulators signaled closer scrutiny of cloud/AI services, which can amplify volatility. Read More.

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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