Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Earns Outperform Rating from Wedbush

22 Dec 2025, 13:44 by Sarita Garza · The Markets Daily

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by research analysts at Wedbush in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $625.00 target price on the software giant’s stock. Wedbush’s price target suggests a potential upside of 28.62% from the company’s previous close.

MSFT has been the subject of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Melius Research upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.03.

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Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $485.92 on Monday. Microsoft has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $499.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $503.29. The company has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Wall Street upside calls and analyst coverage highlight large potential gains for MSFT, with consensus targets implying roughly 30%+ upside and “Strong Buy” sentiment that supports buyer interest. Analysts See 33% Upside To Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)
Positive Sentiment: Dividend-growth stories emphasize MSFT’s 15-year streak of hikes and long-term yield-on-cost benefits, reinforcing appeal to income and total-return investors despite a modest current yield. Why Microsoft Is a Great Income Stock Despite a 0.77% Yield
Positive Sentiment: AI tailwinds: coverage notes MSFT’s material exposure to OpenAI, rapid Azure demand for generative AI (Copilots) and new use cases (agentic AI in banking), supporting cloud revenue growth expectations. AWS and Microsoft Present Agentic AI’s Banking Business Case
Positive Sentiment: Corporate partnerships and deal flow — including a reported multi-year agreement with Cognizant — bolster near-term enterprise cloud/service revenue visibility. Microsoft and Cognizant announce a multi-year partnership
Neutral Sentiment: Macro narratives and price-target pieces (e.g., $5T market-cap predictions and “Magnificent Seven” rankings) keep MSFT in focus; these are bullish in tone but depend on execution of AI investments. Prediction: This Company Is All Set to Hit a $5 Trillion Market Cap in 2026
Negative Sentiment: Gaming division weakness: reports that Xbox is losing the console race, plus recent layoffs, studio closures and price moves, raise concerns about near-term profitability and require strategic shifts. Xbox is losing the console race by miles. It’s part of Microsoft’s big gaming pivot
Negative Sentiment: Capital intensity warning: commentators (e.g., Jim Cramer) note Microsoft “requires mass spending” to keep Azure competitive, which could pressure margins if spending outpaces revenue gains. Jim Cramer Says Microsoft “Requires Mass Spending” to Keep Azure Competitive

Microsoft Company Profile

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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.