Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Buy Rating from Barclays

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by investment analysts at Barclays in a note issued to investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports.

MSFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $562.44.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock traded up $10.73 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $424.69. The company had a trading volume of 4,695,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,205,949. Microsoft has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $396.15 and a 200 day moving average of $446.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.23, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft will post 16.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. IRON Financial LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 23.2% during the third quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. PMG Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,347,000 after buying an additional 1,572 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $493,860,000 after acquiring an additional 9,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 18,340 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,499,000 after acquiring an additional 2,247 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results beat expectations: revenue $82.89B, EPS $4.27, Azure growth ~40% YoY and operating income up ~20%; Seeking Alpha argues MSFT’s $627B contracted backlog and cash-flow strength make current valuation attractive. Microsoft: A Compelling Opportunity Emerging From The Downturn
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street bullishness and price-target lifts: Arete Research raised its MSFT target to $870 (buy), signaling some analysts see large upside vs. the pullback. Arete Research Boosts Microsoft Price Target to $870
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying: Fisher Asset and other funds have increased MSFT stakes, supporting demand at current levels. Fisher Asset Management Boosts Microsoft Stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Xbox product rationalization: Xbox is winding down Copilot on mobile/console and reorganizing leadership — the market viewed the move as prudent cost/focus management (mixed implications for long-term consumer AI exposure). Microsoft Stock Gains as Xbox Discontinues Copilot
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory / security spotlight: MSFT (with Google and xAI) agreed to give US authorities early access to new AI models for national-security testing — highlights regulatory oversight but also underscores Microsoft’s central role in AI. What we know about US stress tests of Google, xAI and Microsoft AI models
• Negative Sentiment: Massive $190B capex guidance remains the principal worry: investors are focused on the scale and timing of AI data-center spending (some argue part of it is inflation-driven and growth-supporting, but the headline number pressured sentiment). Microsoft: A Compelling Opportunity Emerging From The Downturn
• Negative Sentiment: Clean-energy conflict: reporting says Microsoft may delay or revise its 2030 hourly clean-energy matching goal as AI data-center buildout increases power demand — a potential reputational and cost/strategy headwind. Microsoft’s AI data center push is colliding with its clean power goals

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).