Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Rating Upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was upgraded by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on MSFT. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, November 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $682.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC upped their price objective on Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $630.37.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $477.18 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $487.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $503.65. Microsoft has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $50,493,678,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 500.0% during the 3rd 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 worth $30,840,432,000 after purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Buy and a $655 price target, highlighting Microsoft’s advantaged position in the AI stack and projecting material EPS upside — a major bullish institutional endorsement that can support the stock over time. Goldman Sachs coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is partnering on AI-enabled gene-therapy research with NVIDIA and academic groups — a signal that Azure + AI partnerships are expanding into new, high-value markets beyond core cloud and productivity. FT: AI breakthrough for gene therapies
• Positive Sentiment: Reported December data shows a meaningful drop in MSFT short interest (about a 20% decline from mid-December), which reduces immediate downside pressure from short-covering events and indicates fewer bearish bets. (Market data)
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo kept an Outperform/Overweight stance on MSFT even after trimming its target — a mixed analyst signal that supports the long-term case while recognizing near-term valuation/expense concerns. Wells Fargo note
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces highlight new revenue plays (e.g., Copilot Checkout for retail and positioning as a “trusted operating system” for enterprise commerce) — product-led upside that may take time to monetize and thus is a medium-term positive but not an immediate catalyst. MarketWatch: software comeback
• Negative Sentiment: President Trump said Microsoft will make “major changes” this week to ensure consumers don’t shoulder higher electricity costs from AI data centers — language that introduces political/regulatory risk and the possibility the company could face constraints or added costs related to data-center expansion. Reuters: Trump on data-center power costs
• Negative Sentiment: Rumors of large layoffs (11k–22k) circulated and prompted executive pushback; even when denied, such rumors can weigh on sentiment and raise concerns about restructuring costs or execution risk. FastCompany: layoff rumors response
• Negative Sentiment: Spence Asset Management reduced its MSFT stake, a small but visible instance of institutional selling that can add to intraday pressure when combined with the other negatives. TipRanks: fund cuts stake

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).