Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 5.7% – What’s Next?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares were up 5.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $376.61 and last traded at $372.97. 181,996,999 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 384% from the average daily volume of 37,577,375 shares. The stock had previously closed at $352.83.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft shares bounced as the broader memory and semiconductor market stabilized, helping relieve some of the pressure tied to AI infrastructure and component-cost fears.
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush and other bullish commentators said the recent tech selloff may be a buying opportunity, arguing Microsoft remains a core AI leader despite near-term volatility. Dan Ives Says Microsoft And Meta Are Being Treated Like ‘Bear Market’ Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft was mentioned in new partnerships and product integrations, including Commvault, PitchBook, FPT, and ICON plc, reinforcing demand for Microsoft’s cloud and AI ecosystem. Microsoft Just Made Commvault a Native Azure Service. Here Is How to Play CVLT Stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft also drew attention from investors after Michael Burry disclosed a long position, which some traders viewed as a contrarian buy signal.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple articles noted analysts still like the stock long term, but Wall Street remains focused on whether AI spending is destroying near-term margins and free cash flow. Wall Street Analysts Think Microsoft (MSFT) Is a Good Investment: Is It?
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel cut its Microsoft price target and warned that FY27 gross margin estimates may be too high because Azure growth is coming with heavier capex and margin pressure. Microsoft’s Stock Is Crippled
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft announced another worldwide Xbox price increase, citing soaring memory and storage costs, which adds to concerns that hardware inflation is squeezing the gaming business.
• Negative Sentiment: New legal and regulatory pressure also weighed on the stock, including an Italy antitrust probe into Microsoft 365 pricing and new shareholder class-action notices over alleged investor misinformation.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Phillip Securities raised shares of Microsoft to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Raymond James Financial lowered Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.86.

Microsoft Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $410.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $421.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $2.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth 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. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

About Microsoft

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).