Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Hits New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $353.68 and last traded at $356.1720, with a volume of 17283339 shares. The stock had previously closed at $365.46.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to win new enterprise and ecosystem deals, including ICON plc naming it a preferred technology partner and multiple integrations with Microsoft 365 Copilot, which supports the bull case for AI-driven software demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 20-year Chevron power agreement for its Texas data center could ease a major AI bottleneck by securing long-term energy capacity for Azure infrastructure and reducing execution risk.
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles point to strong analyst and investor support, with one report calling MSFT a “Strong Buy” and another arguing the stock looks oversold after a sharp pullback.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also expanding its AI footprint beyond software through partnerships in education, workforce training, and regional AI development, which helps reinforce the company’s broader AI platform strategy.
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel cut its Microsoft price target to $400, warning that Azure’s rapid growth and heavy capital spending could compress cloud margins more than Wall Street expects.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal overhangs are adding pressure, including the EU’s preliminary move to label Azure a “gatekeeper” under the Digital Markets Act and new securities class-action headlines tied to Microsoft’s prior disclosures.
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment is also being hurt by concerns around Microsoft’s AI spending, quantum computing claims facing criticism, and commentary that the stock’s recent slump reflects doubts about the payoff from its infrastructure investments.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Dbs Bank dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $525.00 price objective (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, New Street Research dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.86.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $411.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $422.73. The firm has a market cap of $2.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 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).