Although Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) stock has declined well below its all-time high (ATH) price of $467.56 it reached in early July this year, the technology behemoth’s shares have started to move upwards again recently, and Wall Street analysts have retained their optimism.
Indeed, Microsoft shares began to shift higher after the company’s recent announcement of a $60 billion stock buyback program and a 10% boost to its quarterly dividend, as well as revealing several new artificial intelligence (AI) features and upgrades to its Copilot AI assistant.
Wall Street’s Microsoft stock price prediction
In this context, a group of 30 Wall Street analysts offering their 12-month Microsoft stock price predictions in the past three months have rated MSFT as a ‘strong buy,’ with 29 of them recommending a ‘buy,’ only one suggesting to ‘hold,’ and with no ‘sell’ calls, as per data on September 17.
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At the same time, they have set the 12-month Microsoft price target at an average of $501.15, which would represent a 16.18% increase from its price at press time, with the lowest suggested price target sitting at $470 (+8.96%), and the highest amounting to $550 (+27.51%).
What Wall Street analysts say
The one cautious Wall Street analyst is Guggenheim’s John DiFucci, who believes that Microsoft should have carried out some of its restructuring a long time ago, such as transferring Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) to Microsoft 365, but that it is “better late than never.”
However, Microsoft’s new structure, which he referred to as a “more opaque, or a blacker box,” does not precisely spark joy for him:
“Unfortunately, no historical data was provided, and while we’ll get y/y growth metrics as Microsoft reports the next four quarters, that simply isn’t much to gauge how these businesses have progressed over time.”
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) has reiterated MSFT stock as ‘overweight,’ citing the company’s “new disclosures regarding segment changes, metrics changes, and the corresponding re-allocation of an unchanged FQ1 outlook” shared on August 21.
Microsoft stock price analysis
For the time being, the price of Microsoft stock currently stands at $431.34 in pre-market trading, reflecting a 0.34% increase on the day, adding up to the advance of 3.87% across the past week, and a 3.77% gain in the last month, growing 17.95% year-to-date (YTD), according to the latest charts.
At the same time, the market analytics and trading platform TrendSpider has also noted that MSFT was moving higher in after-hours “after boosting quarterly dividend by 10% and announcing $60B share buyback program,” wondering if “early shorts [are] about to get squeezed,” in an X post on September 17.
All things considered, Wall Street analysts are very bullish on the price of Microsoft stock for the next 12 months, and its fundamentals and technicals, as well as positive developments surrounding the company, show that it certainly has enough strength to meet their expectations.
That said, trends in the stock market can change without warning, so doing one’s own due diligence, including keeping up with any Microsoft news today and in the future, such as Microsoft earnings date, Microsoft stock prediction, and the like, is critical when investing.
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Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
