Microsoft’s (MSFT) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Piper Sandler

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by research analysts at Piper Sandler in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $650.00 target price on the software giant’s stock, up from their prior target price of $610.00. Piper Sandler‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 22.41% from the company’s previous close.

MSFT has been the subject of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets set a $610.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. CLSA reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore raised Microsoft from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Microsoft from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Forty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $601.80.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1%

MSFT opened at $531.01 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $511.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $437.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $551.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.71 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The company’s revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 19.66 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. Company 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. State Street Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 315,653,206 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $117,744,959,000 after acquiring an additional 8,944,917 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,338,370,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 64,375,360 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $24,013,297,000 after purchasing an additional 543,172 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $18,306,443,000. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Microsoft by 12.0% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 46,694,778 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,418,076,000 after purchasing an additional 5,019,702 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft exceeded expectations with quarterly revenue of $92.28 billion and earnings of $4.89 per share, compared with consensus estimates of $90.62 billion and $4.71, respectively. Revenue increased 18.8% year over year. Microsoft Beats Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Azure revenue rose 48% to approximately $33.2 billion, helping Microsoft Cloud revenue reach $63.9 billion, up 30%. Foundry revenue more than tripled, while commercial arrangements with OpenAI generated about $10 billion during the quarter. Microsoft Azure Revenue Surges 48%
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft generated $18.6 billion in free cash flow, reinforcing the view that it can fund its AI buildout while still producing cash. Bank of America analyst Tal Liani reiterated a Buy rating and raised his price target to $630, citing accelerating Azure and AI momentum. Bank of America Raises Microsoft Price Target
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is positioning itself as the governance and security layer for enterprise AI agents. OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta’s Muse are reportedly adopting its agent-containment tools, potentially strengthening Microsoft’s ecosystem and future monetization opportunities. Microsoft’s AI Agent Governance Strategy
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft reduced its 2026 capital-expenditure forecast to $170 billion from $175 billion, citing delays in third-party data-center capacity. While investors view the lower spending as a sign of discipline, it also raises questions about whether infrastructure constraints could limit Azure growth and pressure AI suppliers. Microsoft Cuts Capital Expenditure Forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s voluntary buyout offer covering roughly 60,000 employees has intensified scrutiny of workforce reductions and the costs of reallocating resources toward AI. The move may improve efficiency, but it creates reputational and execution risks. Microsoft Buyout Offers Draw Criticism

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company’s principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.