Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 1.1% – What’s Next?

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) were down 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $396.32 and last traded at $397.75. 23,747,326 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 37,279,875 shares. The stock had previously closed at $402.29.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains constructive on the long-term story: several analysts reiterated bullish views, with targets as high as $575 from Truist, $535 from CLSA, and $646 from Bernstein, citing Azure growth, AI monetization, and Microsoft’s large commercial backlog. Article link
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its strategic partnership with Mistral AI, deepening its push in Europe and regulated industries and reinforcing the company’s broader AI platform strategy. Article link
• Positive Sentiment: The company also committed $60 million to the DOE’s “Genesis Mission” AI-for-science initiative, adding another sign that Microsoft is investing to expand its AI and cloud ecosystem. Article link
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also focused on the upcoming earnings release, where consensus expects about $4.24 EPS on $87.62 billion in revenue; the key question is whether AI demand can offset heavy capex and any associated margin pressure. Article link
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment is being weighed down by repeated securities-class-action headlines tied to alleged misleading AI statements, adding litigation overhang even if the financial impact is still uncertain. Article link
• Negative Sentiment: The stock has also been described as down meaningfully year to date, reflecting investor concern that elevated AI infrastructure spending could keep near-term upside limited. Article link

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $502.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $646.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Argus lowered their target price on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $556.37.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9%

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $399.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $408.91. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.13. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm 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 firm’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its position in Microsoft by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2,332.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,262,509,000 after acquiring an additional 6,468,645 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its position in Microsoft by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 272,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $131,750,000 after purchasing an additional 49,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Overbrook Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 87,535 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,334,000 after buying an additional 2,384 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).