What's Going On With Microsoft Stock?

Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares are trading higher Thursday after Wells Fargo raised its price target on the stock, adding to a string of bullish analyst actions over the past week. Here’s what you should know. Microsoft stock is trading near recent highs. What’s ahead for MSFT stock? Wells Fargo Raises its Microsoft Price Target to $725 Wells Fargo analyst Michael Turrin maintained an Overweight rating on Microsoft and pushed the price target up to $725 from $700, per Benzinga Pro data. That bump gave the stock fresh momentum Thursday, building on a wave of positive analyst commentary that’s hit the name lately. Piper Sandler held its Overweight stance Wednesday and bumped its target to $610 from $550. Stifel went a step further, moving Microsoft up to Buy from Hold on Sept. 23 and setting a new $575 target, up from $530. Oppenheimer stuck with Outperform on Sept. 22 while nudging its target to $570 from $515. Across Wall Street, Microsoft now holds a consensus Buy rating, with price targets averaging $572.33 and spanning anywhere from $480 to $725. Microsoft’s Chart Shows a Rising Floor Pressing into a Tested Ceiling Beyond today’s analyst momentum, Microsoft’s chart tells its own story. Shares sit above every major moving average right now, a setup that could point toward a run at fresh 52-week highs. That strength traces back to late July, when an earnings reaction sent the stock soaring overnight. Prices leapt from roughly $400 to $460 in a single session, then kept climbing past $500 within the week. Since then, each pullback has landed higher than the one before it. Overhead, though, a stubborn ceiling has formed between roughly $515 and $520. The stock has tried breaking through that zone five separate times since the July surge, with today marking the latest attempt, as shares tested the $520 area before easing back slightly. Put together, a steadily climbing floor running into a repeatedly rejected ceiling forms what chart watchers often call an ascending triangle, a pattern that frequently tilts toward an eventual break higher given how consistently the floor keeps rising. Still, that ceiling has proven tough to crack so far, holding firm on every prior test. A genuine breakout above it would be the real confirmation to watch for and could set the stock up for a run toward 52-week highs. The aforementioned floor and ceiling figures are gathered from recent price action and should be treated as approximate rather than exact. MSFT Shares Are Climbing MSFT Price Action: Microsoft shares were up 0.33% at $514.63 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro. Read Also: Meta's AI Spending Has a $3.9 Billion Tax Perk — Mark Zuckerberg-Led Company Reportedly Classified Data Centers as ‘Pilot Models’ Image: Shutterstock