Truist Financial Reaffirms Buy Rating for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating on Microsoft and lowered its price target to $575 (from $675), implying roughly a 43% upside from the current share price.
• Microsoft beat Q3 expectations with $4.27 EPS (vs. $4.04) and $82.89B revenue (up 18.3% YoY), but the stock fell about 5.3% as investors fretted over a large rise in capex guidance (~$190B), one‑time charges and heightened competitive/regulatory AI risks.
• Analyst sentiment remains largely positive: MarketBeat shows a consensus “Moderate Buy” with an average target near $555.20, and the majority of analysts rated the stock Buy/Outperform.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by stock analysts at Truist Financial in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $575.00 target price on the software giant's stock, down from their prior target price of $675.00. Truist Financial's price objective suggests a potential upside of 43.07% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. HSBC increased their price target on Microsoft from $588.00 to $593.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays set a $545.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Evercore reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. One investment 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $555.20.

Microsoft Stock Down 5.3%

Microsoft stock traded down $22.57 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $401.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 26,838,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,350,984. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $395.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $448.65. 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 has a 52-week low of $356.28 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.15, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents 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 Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value 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 company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew 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 purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

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.

About Microsoft

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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