Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report)’s stock price was up 1.1% on Monday . The company traded as high as $400.63 and last traded at $399.95. Approximately 27,587,337 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average daily volume of 36,659,281 shares. The stock had previously closed at $395.55.
Trending Headlines about Microsoft
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is unifying its commercial and consumer Copilot teams to simplify product strategy and speed adoption—Jacob Andreou will lead the combined Copilot effort, freeing AI chief Mustafa Suleyman to focus on model research. This clarifies go-to-market execution for Copilot, which could help revenue growth if adoption accelerates. Microsoft unifies Copilot commercial and consumer product teams in unit rejig
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft hired the team behind Cove (a Sequoia-backed AI collaboration startup), adding talent and IP for real-time AI collaboration features—an acquisitive talent move that can accelerate product development at low cash cost. Microsoft hires the team of Sequioa-backed AI collaboration platform, Cove
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft Research partnered with MediaTek on next-generation Active Optical Cable tech to improve data-center power efficiency—this supports lower infrastructure costs for large-scale AI deployments and strengthens Microsoft’s hardware/software co-innovation narrative. MediaTek Develops Active Optical Cable Technology with Microsoft Research
- Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft, Google and Anthropic are embedding AI into spreadsheets (Excel/Sheets) — a sign that broadly used productivity interfaces may become dominant enterprise AI entry points; impact depends on execution and monetization timing. Microsoft, Google and Anthropic Channel Enterprise AI Use With Spreadsheets
- Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly weighing legal action against Amazon and OpenAI over a reported $50B Amazon–OpenAI cloud deal that Microsoft says could breach its exclusivity—this creates regulatory/legal risk and commercial uncertainty for Microsoft’s multi-billion-dollar AI strategy. Microsoft weighs legal action over $50 billion Amazon-OpenAI cloud deal, FT reports
- Negative Sentiment: Media and analysts report internal AI troubles and that Microsoft may lag peers on some model benchmarks; Mustafa Suleyman’s role was shifted toward model research amid broader AI reorganizations—these headlines feed investor concern about execution risk and the timeline to close gaps with rivals. Microsoft reshuffles AI team to catch up on Copilot and model building
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.95.
Microsoft Price Performance
The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $424.42 and its 200 day moving average is $474.29.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.76%.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In other news, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Microsoft
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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).
Further Reading
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