Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 1.7% Higher – Still a Buy?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s share price was up 1.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $427.98 and last traded at $420.9260. Approximately 33,849,756 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 5% from the average daily volume of 35,578,301 shares. The stock had previously closed at $413.96.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw bullish analyst commentary, with multiple firms raising or reaffirming price targets after the company’s strong earnings beat and Azure growth, reinforcing the view that core business momentum remains solid.
• Positive Sentiment: New reports suggest Microsoft’s AI ecosystem is still gaining traction, including partner milestones tied to Copilot and AI cloud services, which supports the case for continued enterprise adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: Several hedge funds and asset managers have recently added to Microsoft positions, indicating that some large investors still view MSFT as a long-term AI and cloud leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft partnered with CAISI and AISI to advance AI model testing standards, a policy-and-safety focused update that may help its enterprise credibility but is unlikely to move the stock on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is considering adjustments to its renewable-energy targets and offering voluntary retirement packages reflect ongoing cost and infrastructure pressures, but these items are more strategic than immediately material to revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Market attention is centered on TCI’s reduced stake and the broader “AI anxiety” trade, with investors worried Microsoft may be spending heavily on AI infrastructure before the payoff becomes clearer.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also points to temporary margin pressure from elevated AI and data-center spending, which could weigh on near-term profitability even as growth remains strong.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. New Street Research reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $562.69.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $396.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $445.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,664,631,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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).