Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 2.4% – Here’s Why

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares dropped 2.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $364.78 and last traded at $365.1210. Approximately 43,811,866 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 21% from the average daily volume of 36,244,023 shares. The stock had previously closed at $373.94.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush and other bullish commentators said the recent tech selloff looks like a buying opportunity, arguing Microsoft remains a core AI winner in a long-term bull cycle rather than a broken story. Wedbush brushes off tech sell-off as buying chance in multi-year AI bull run
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles noted that Microsoft is leading a software rebound at times during today’s broader tech weakness, suggesting buyers are still defending the name after the recent drop. Stock Market Today: Dow Jones Turns Higher After Soft Start; Microsoft Leads Software Rally (Live Coverage)
• Positive Sentiment: Some bullish takes pointed to Microsoft’s AI and cloud ecosystem as the long-term driver of value, with analysts and commentators still describing MSFT as attractive on weakness. Should You Buy Microsoft Stock on the Dip?
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced a 20-year Chevron power deal for a Texas data center, reinforcing its AI buildout and helping secure infrastructure for Azure, though the deal also underscores heavy capital needs. Microsoft Solves AI’s Biggest Bottleneck With Chevron Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles said the stock has become deeply oversold after a steep June decline, with some traders and analysts expecting a technical bounce even as fundamentals remain debated. PLTR, MSFT Stocks Bounce Back after Hitting 52-Week Lows — What’s Fueling the Comeback?
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel lowered its Microsoft price target and warned that Wall Street is underestimating the drag from AI-related capital spending and lower cloud margins, reinforcing fears that profitability could come under pressure. Stock Market Today, June 25: Microsoft Falls as AI Spending Concerns Pressure Cloud Margin Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft raised Xbox prices by $100 to $150 worldwide due to soaring memory and storage costs, which may hurt gaming demand and highlights broader component inflation. Microsoft lifts price of Xbox consoles due to soaring component costs
• Negative Sentiment: Italy’s antitrust authority opened a probe into Microsoft over its Microsoft 365 price hike, adding to regulatory scrutiny in Europe. Italy regulator probes Microsoft over ‘Microsoft 365’ price hike
• Negative Sentiment: New securities class-action notices and lawsuit reminders surfaced again, keeping legal overhang in focus for shareholders. MSFT Fraud Alert: Microsoft Investors Sue for Recovery in Securities Fraud Class Action after 10% Stock Drop

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $525.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $550.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.86.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $411.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $421.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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 MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. State Street Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,060,557,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after acquiring an additional 980,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,664,631,000. 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).