Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Trading 1.9% Higher – Time to Buy?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares shot up 1.9% on Monday . The company traded as high as $394.20 and last traded at $389.10. Approximately 27,731,632 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average daily volume of 37,036,137 shares. The stock had previously closed at $381.70.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched MAI-Cyber-1, its first cybersecurity-specific AI model, along with an agentic cybersecurity system designed to detect and respond to threats. The products are positioned to compete with offerings from Google, Anthropic and OpenAI and could create another enterprise growth opportunity. Microsoft launches its first cybersecurity model and a new agentic cybersecurity system
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive ahead of earnings: Guggenheim reaffirmed a Buy rating with a $586 price target, while coverage highlighted resilient Azure AI demand and Microsoft’s expanded partnership with Mistral as potential supports for Azure’s enterprise AI leadership. Does Azure AI Growth Make Microsoft Stock a Buy Ahead of Q4 Earnings?
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is also taking a larger role in chip design and joined Nvidia, SpaceX and other technology companies in an open AI-security initiative following recent AI-related cyberattacks. These moves reinforce its broader infrastructure and security strategy. Nvidia, SpaceX, Microsoft launch AI safety initiative
• Neutral Sentiment: Options markets imply an approximately 7.24% post-earnings move, reflecting unusually high uncertainty. Investors will assess Azure growth, AI capacity, record infrastructure spending and whether margins can withstand the investment cycle. Microsoft Q4 earnings options traders expect a 7.24% swing
• Negative Sentiment: Several securities-law firms publicized class-action lawsuits alleging investor harm and misrepresentations involving Copilot, data silos and interoperability. The legal notices may add headline risk, although they do not establish liability. Microsoft investor class action announcement
• Negative Sentiment: Recurring Xbox Live outages and criticism surrounding Halo changes remain a minor consumer-business overhang. UBS also reduced its price target, underscoring concerns about valuation and the return on Microsoft’s roughly $190 billion AI investment. Microsoft gains on buy ratings ahead of Q4 earnings

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group cut their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $646.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Citizens Jmp began coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. Finally, DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $554.73.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.9%

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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $398.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $407.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. 71.13% of the stock is 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).