Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 1.2% – Here’s What Happened

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock price rose 1.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $389.36 and last traded at $389.00. Approximately 32,761,911 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 37,604,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $384.47.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and AI strategists argue Microsoft is a core AI infrastructure winner — a driver for investor interest given Azure, identity/auth layers and high switching costs that position MSFT to benefit from AI-driven enterprise spending. AI Is Separating Software Winners From Losers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s new collaboration with Starlink signals expanded connectivity and potential Azure edge use cases (rural/remote customers), supporting cloud revenue optionality and positive sentiment around partnership-driven growth. Microsoft Is Teaming up With Starlink
• Positive Sentiment: An insider purchase (director John Stanton) added a small but visible vote of confidence after the post-earnings sell-off, which can support short-term sentiment and stabilize shares. Director Stanton John Just Bought $2 Million of Microsoft Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: The White House’s planned power-cost pledge with big cloud/data-center firms (including Microsoft) reduces one operational risk for hyperscalers and could be a modest long-term positive for data-center economics, though timing/implementation remain uncertain. White House to host Big Tech pledge
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella’s public comments pushing back on low-quality “AI slop” reflect management trying to shape the narrative around responsible, enterprise-grade AI — a reputational plus but contributed to short-term volatility as markets parsed the tone. Satya Nadella Rails Against AI Slop
• Negative Sentiment: Japan’s Fair Trade Commission raided Microsoft Japan offices in a probe into possible restrictions around Azure customers using rival cloud services — this antitrust scrutiny is an immediate regulatory overhang that can hurt sentiment and add legal/operational uncertainty. Microsoft Japan raided over suspected violation of anti-monopoly law
• Negative Sentiment: Market debate continues over Azure growth pacing vs. very large AI infrastructure capex (management flagged elevated AI-related investment), which knocked the stock after Q2 despite beats — investors are weighing near-term margin/cash impact against longer-term AI revenue upside. Microsoft Stock Opinions on Fiscal Q2 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Broader sector risks — heightened talk of AI regulation and a Magnificent Seven rotation — keep pressure on valuations and can amplify moves in MSFT even when fundamentals are solid; this contributes to volatility until clarity on regulation and data-center costs emerges. Will Regulating AI Cripple AI Stocks?

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.95.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $445.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $484.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Company Profile

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).