Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading Down 1.8% on Insider Selling

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares traded down 1.8% on Thursday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $384.00 and last traded at $390.34. 46,285,764 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 29% from the average session volume of 35,872,313 shares. The stock had previously closed at $397.36.

Specifically, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.45, for a total value of $1,031,125.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 51,968 shares in the company, valued at $21,434,201.60. The trade was a 4.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $525.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, President Capital upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one research 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.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to benefit from AI and cloud demand, including a new 260 MW solar supply agreement tied to its infrastructure needs, which supports the long-term growth story. MN8 Energy Delivers 260 MW of Solar to Microsoft Across Two U.S. Power Markets
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also announced its quarterly dividend, reinforcing its cash-generation profile and shareholder returns. Microsoft announces quarterly dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: Build 2026 and related AI product updates keep investor attention on Microsoft’s Copilot and agentic AI roadmap, but the market is still waiting to see whether those investments translate into faster monetization. Microsoft Just Gave Investors 3 Dates They Can’t Afford to Ignore
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s limits on employees using Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 highlight tighter AI governance and data-retention scrutiny, but the direct impact on earnings appears limited. Microsoft limits employee use of Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 over data retention concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Bloomberg-reported plans for major Xbox layoffs and budget cuts are pressuring sentiment, raising concerns about slower growth and weaker margins in the gaming unit. Microsoft’s Xbox plans for major layoffs next month
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is cutting hundreds of Azure jobs in China add to worries about geopolitical risk and the pace of cloud expansion in that market. Microsoft lays off hundreds from Azure unit in China
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary around “tokenmaxxing,” AI overuse, and rising AI data-center costs suggests investors are becoming more cautious about how efficiently Microsoft can convert heavy AI spending into profits. Satya Nadella Warns Against AI Overuse

Microsoft Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $410.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $429.80. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors 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).