Microsoft i Alphabet zveřejnily silné kvartální výsledky tažené AI a cloudem, zatímco výnosnost 10letého amerického dluhopisu vystoupala na 4,78 %. Tržby Microsoftu meziročně vzrostly o 17,8 % na 90,01 miliardy USD, Alphabetu o 24,2 % na 119,80 miliardy USD.
Azure and Google Cloud are posting jaw-dropping growth numbers just as Treasury yields hit levels that have historically crushed high-multiple tech stocks. Whether Microsoft's fortress balance sheet or Alphabet's cheaper valuation wins this rate-scare showdown could determine which mega-cap compounds…
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Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) both posted blowout AI-fueled quarters just as the 10-year Treasury yield pushed to 4.78%, its 98.8th percentile reading over the past year. With rate-hike anxiety squeezing growth multiples, these two mega-caps stand out because their balance sheets absorb the shock other hyperscalers have to borrow through. Huge cash reserves make borrowing-cost worries less prominent for both.
Azure Crosses $100 Billion, Google Cloud Accelerates to 82% Microsoft’s fiscal Q4 delivered revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.8%, with Intelligent Cloud jumping 32% and Azure growing 43%. Satya Nadella called out that “Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time, and Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats.” Commercial RPO ballooned to $678 billion, up 84%, a booking backlog that dwarfs peers.
Alphabet’s Q2 was arguably louder. Revenue hit $119.80 billion, up 24.2%, marking its 12th straight quarter of double-digit growth. Google Cloud accelerated to 82% growth at $24.77 billion, a stunning jump. Sundar Pichai noted “nearly 90% of the Fortune 100 using” Gemini Enterprise, and Search still cranked out $63.27 billion, up 17%.
Business Driver Microsoft Alphabet Cloud growth Azure +43% Google Cloud +82% FY CapEx $115.95B $91.45B (FY25) Main AI wedge Copilot + OpenAI Full-stack Gemini + TPUs Cash Fortress vs. Debt-Funded Sprint Microsoft generated $182.94 billion in operating cash flow for FY26 and still returned over $43 billion to shareholders. Amy Hood emphasized flexibility: “You have a big book of business that’s flexible… It does allow us to have a lot more flexibility to manage through those.” Free cash flow was pinched to $19.64 billion, but the war chest keeps rate sensitivity muted.
Alphabet leaned harder on financing. Q2 free cash flow turned negative $5.86 billion, long-term debt jumped from $46.5 billion to $98.2 billion, and buybacks were suspended. Alphabet raised roughly $70 billion in combined equity and debt. Rising yields matter more here, though Google’s P/E of 17 gives it valuation cushion versus Microsoft’s P/E of 28.
What Decides the Next Leg I will be watching whether Microsoft can convert that $678 billion RPO into revenue without margin slippage as capacity finally catches demand. For Alphabet, the key metric to watch is when free cash flow turns positive again and whether Google Cloud’s 82% pace holds. If yields keep climbing from 4.78%, the debt-funded builder will feel it first (the power, cooling, and networking names taking the other side of that capex are in our free AI infrastructure report).
Why I Lean Toward Alphabet on Valuation Right Now Personally, I find Alphabet more interesting at these levels. A forward P/E of 23 for a business compounding 24% with an 82% cloud growth rate looks mispriced against Microsoft’s premium multiple. Microsoft is the safer AI compounder, and if you want the cleanest balance sheet and a 0.71% yield with buybacks intact, it fits defensive portfolios well. For a growth investor willing to absorb capex volatility, Alphabet’s ad moat plus Gemini traction stands out through this rate scare.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Microsoft je blízko rekordu, ale o dalším růstu rozhodne volný peněžní tok. Ten klesl na 66,987 miliardy USD, zatímco kapitálové výdaje vyskočily na 115,948 miliardy USD.
Microsoft sits within reach of a record high, yet one line item buried in its cash flow statement could either launch the stock through that ceiling or keep it rangebound for another year.
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At $499.70, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) is a Hold, with free cash flow the single number that will decide whether the stock breaks out to a fresh record or stalls out below it. Shares sit within striking distance of the $549.20 52-week high, yet the setup underneath the price is more complicated than the headline suggests.
Microsoft is the world’s largest software company by market value at roughly $3.71 trillion, and its Azure cloud, Microsoft 365 franchise, and OpenAI partnership have made it the default operating layer for enterprise AI. Fiscal 2026 closed with $331.839 billion in revenue, up 17.79% year over year, and Azure crossed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time.
What has kept the stock rangebound is the other side of that growth story: capital spending is exploding faster than cash generation, and investors are trying to price how long that gap lasts.
Bull Case: A Contracted AI Backlog Growth Cannot Ignore Bulls point to a demand book that keeps outrunning the model. Commercial remaining performance obligations grew 84% to $678 billion, and Azure and other cloud services expanded 43% in the fiscal fourth quarter. Management guided to roughly 45% constant-currency Azure growth for the next quarter with first-half growth expected to accelerate.
Monetization at the application layer is compounding too. Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats, GitHub Copilot revenue accelerated over 60% quarter over quarter, and the AI business hit a $37 billion annual run rate. Margins remain elite at a 46.78% operating margin and 34.04% return on equity, and EPS has beaten estimates for five straight quarters.
Bear Case: Capex Is Eating the Cash Flow The bear thesis lives inside the cash flow statement. Full-year capital expenditures hit $115.948 billion, up 79.62% year over year, and Q4 capex alone jumped 109.63%. Free cash flow fell to $66.987 billion, down 6.46%, even as operating cash flow grew 34.35%.
Following an accounting change extending data-center useful life to 25 years, the calendar 2026 capex expectation was adjusted to roughly $175 billion, with FY27 capex expected to grow again. That buildout has to be powered, cooled, and networked by somebody, and we mapped seven of the suppliers riding that spend in a free AI infrastructure report. Gross margin already slipped to 67%, and Microsoft Cloud gross margin fell to 65%. On top of that, CEO Satya Nadella sold $43 million of stock in early September, a headline that will not help sentiment near the highs.
Hold Case: Waiting for the FCF Inflection The middle path is the most defensible one right now. Microsoft is executing, but at 27x trailing earnings, 26x forward earnings, and a price-to-free-cash-flow multiple of 55, the stock is already priced for AI to convert into cash. Sentiment reads neutral at 53.8, with a 7-day change of -9.54.
The story reverses only when FCF re-accelerates. That requires Azure revenue to outrun capex growth, Copilot per-seat and consumption billing to scale, and the Maya 200 custom silicon (with 30% better performance per dollar) to lower unit economics. Until one or two of those show up in the earnings report, patience is defensible.
Data Check: Target Above Price, Performance Below Market Microsoft trades at $499.70 against an analyst consensus target of $572.92, implying roughly 14.7% of upside. The rating skew is decisively constructive: 14 Strong Buy, 38 Buy, 3 Hold, and no Sell ratings across 55 analysts. Targets are one input among many.
Performance tells the other half of the story. MSFT is up 3.98% year to date and down 0.81% over one year, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 12.94% YTD and 18.65% over one year. Microsoft has trailed the index badly even as fundamentals compounded.
Verdict: Free Cash Flow Is the Tiebreaker At $499.70, Microsoft is a Hold. Here is why.
The bull case and bear case are both intact, and they resolve at the same line item. If FY27 free cash flow re-accelerates as Azure revenue growth (guided near 45%) outpaces the step-up in operating leases and capex, the multiple compresses on its own and the stock breaks through $549. If FCF stays flat or declines a second consecutive year while capex climbs toward $175 billion, the market will re-rate a stock trading at 55x FCF regardless of how large the RPO backlog gets.
Keep an eye on three data points across the next two quarters: Azure constant-currency growth versus the 45% guide, quarterly free cash flow versus the prior-year comparable, and Copilot seat additions with consumption revenue disclosed alongside them. A beat on all three flips this to a Buy setup. A miss on FCF with capex still climbing tips it toward Sell.
The cost of waiting is modest given MSFT’s 12-month underperformance versus the S&P 500. The cost of buying at the highs before the FCF inflection arrives is meaningfully higher.
Microsoft is a Hold because the next earnings report is what decides whether this stock earns a new all-time high.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Microsoft uvedl, že Azure ve čtvrtletí zrychlil růst na 43 % a backlog vzrostl o 84 % na 678 miliard USD. Firma navíc čeká zhruba 45% růst Azure v aktuálním čtvrtletí.
Microsoft Corp. NASDAQ: MSFT shares closed at approximately $497 on Sept. 2, which is almost exactly where the stock started 2026. But for investors who owned MSFT at the start of the year, the current price is a relief.
Microsoft Today
$499.70 0.00 (0.00%)
As of 09/4/2026 04:00 PM Eastern
$349.20▼
$553.720.73%
27.82
$564.27
MSFT staged a record-setting post-earnings rally that erased months of losses in a single session. Before that rally, MSFT was down nearly 30% for the year on AI-spending anxiety, fears of the impact of artificial intelligence on software companies, and concerns over Copilot adoption.
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None of those have turned out to carry much weight, but that was little solace for shareholders. Net-net, the market still appears to be discounting Microsoft's growing Azure business.
In its most recent earnings report, Azure's growth accelerated, the backlog swelled, and management guided even higher. That means MSFT's post-earnings rally wasn't driven by new information about the quality of the business. The market is simply catching up to information that had been building for months.
MSFT Gets a Boost From Accelerating Azure GrowthThe bear case on Microsoft all year rested on one idea: cloud growth was cooling as AI infrastructure spending outpaced returns. That thesis took a direct hit in the Q4 2026 report. Azure and other cloud services revenue grew 43%, up from 40% in the prior quarter, and Azure crossed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time. Management then guided to roughly 45% Azure growth for the current quarter.
That acceleration matters more than the raw growth number. A business decelerating from 46% to 40% tells one story about maturation. A business accelerating from 40% to 43%, with guidance pointing higher still, tells a different one entirely: demand is outrunning even Microsoft's aggressive infrastructure buildout, not shrinking against it.
Microsoft's $678 Billion Backlog Challenges AI Spending ConcernsCommercial remaining performance obligations (RPOs) rose 84% year-over-year to $678 billion. CFO Amy Hood noted the sequential growth came from customers outside the frontier AI labs. That matters because it undercuts another common bearish argument: that Microsoft's cloud demand is a mirage propped up by a handful of AI labs burning venture capital.
That backlog represents signed commitments from a broad customer base, locked in ahead of revenue recognition. When a number that large accelerates that fast, it's telling you something the stock price, chopping sideways for a year, was not.
MSFT Valuation Hasn't Caught Up With Earnings GrowthEven after the post-earnings surge, Microsoft trades at roughly 26x forward earnings—below its own five-year average multiple. That's happening even as forward earnings per share (EPS) estimates have climbed steadily all year, and even as the company just posted its strongest quarter of the fiscal year in its most important growth driver.
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Price Chart for Monday, September, 7, 2026
Normally, a stock re-rates upward when growth accelerates, and estimates rise in tandem. Microsoft's multiple compressions alongside rising estimates is the market saying, in effect, "we don't trust this growth to persist." That's a psychological stance, not a fundamentals-driven one—and it's the exact gap that tends to close, one way or another; once enough quarters confirm the trend.
Microsoft's AI Spend Remains the Biggest Risk to the Bull CaseIf Azure guidance holds at 45%+ and the backlog keeps converting into recognized revenue, a below-average multiple on an accelerating hyperscaler starts to look like the market hasn't finished repricing the stock. Investors who anchored to the "AI spend without payoff" narrative earlier in the year now have concrete, recent evidence that the payoff phase has begun.
However, investors should weigh the most significant risk. Capital expenditures (CapEx) are still enormous. Microsoft revised its 2026 CapEx outlook to roughly $175 billion by lengthening the assumed useful life of its data center assets.
If Azure growth stalls even briefly, or if the AI-lab-adjacent demand Hood described proves less durable than the broader commercial backlog suggests, the "shrug" the stock delivered this year could turn into something sharper.
For now, the more interesting question isn't whether Microsoft's fundamentals are strong—the quarter answered that decisively. It's why a stock sitting on 43% cloud growth, an 84% backlog surge, and rising earnings estimates is still valued below its own historical average. That gap between what the business is doing and what the multiple says investors believe about it is the actual story.
The Flat Chart May Signal a Sentiment ShiftWhat investors believe about a business can stay wrong for a long time. But eventually, the fundamentals make a case that's too strong to ignore. Microsoft investors who were pricing in decelerating cloud growth for most of 2026 got a data point in July that should have forced a real update to that belief.
However, the muted forward multiple suggests plenty of investors haven't fully made that update yet. Whether that gap closes with the stock re-rating higher or with fundamentals eventually validating the market's caution is a question worth tracking before Microsoft reports earnings in late October.
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Asset Allocation & Management Company LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 53.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,323 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,517 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.2% of Asset Allocation & Management Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Asset Allocation & Management Company LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 12.1% during the second quarter. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC now owns 4,404 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,643,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 20,062 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,483,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Gemmer Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 14,514 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,414,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the period. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 33,780 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,600,000 after purchasing an additional 4,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 4,005 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,494,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $564.27.
View Our Latest Report on Microsoft Insider Activity at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% 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 Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 108,335 shares of company stock worth $53,499,700 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
More Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin. Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming Microsoft Price Performance Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $499.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $444.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $415.80. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.11.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend 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 issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.
About Microsoft (Free Report)
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).
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Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC zvýšila podíl v Microsoftu o 16,8 % ve 2. čtvrtletí a nakoupila dalších 12 471 akcií. Nyní drží 86 519 akcií v hodnotě 32,273 milionu USD.
Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,519 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,471 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.4% of Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,273,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted 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 during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $564.27.
View Our Latest Research Report on MSFT Key Stories Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin. Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming Insider Buying and Selling In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 108,335 shares of company stock worth $53,499,700 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Microsoft Trading Down 2.0% Shares of MSFT opened at $499.70 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $444.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $415.80. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.11.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.
About Microsoft (Free Report)
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).
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FSM Wealth Advisors LLC zvýšila ve 2. čtvrtletí podíl v Microsoftu o 15,6 % na 33 780 akcií v hodnotě 12,6 milionu USD. Microsoft tvoří asi 1,3 % jejích aktiv a je její 12. největší pozicí.
FSM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,780 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,550 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.3% of FSM Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during 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 period. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Key Stories Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin. Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming Insider Buying and Selling In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 108,335 shares of company stock valued at $53,499,700 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders. Microsoft Stock Down 2.0% Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $499.70 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $444.52 and a 200-day moving average of $415.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders 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 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings raised Microsoft from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $564.27.
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About Microsoft (Free Report)
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).
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Seattle Times a Newsday žalují Microsoft a OpenAI za údajné použití jejich článků k tréninku AI bez svolení. Žaloba žádá náhradu škody i zničení datových sad a modelů.
The Seattle Times and Newsday sued Microsoft and OpenAI on Friday, accusing the tech companies of using their journalism to train AI products without permission. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Microsoft was sued Friday by the parent company of its hometown daily newspaper, The Seattle Times Co., which joined with Newsday to accuse the Redmond tech giant and OpenAI of using their journalism to train artificial intelligence models.
The lawsuit alleges that the companies scraped hundreds of thousands of Seattle Times and Newsday articles — bypassing paywalls and ignoring terms of service — to train their AI models. It seeks financial damages and the destruction of any training datasets and models built with their content.
“Like a snake eating its own tail, GenAI that is trained on painstakingly researched, expensive-to-produce content threatens to destroy the very news organizations by competing directly with them through AI-generated substitutive content,” the suit says. “If Defendants are allowed to succeed, independent journalism of the kind Plaintiffs produce will struggle to survive.”
The case is notable in part because the Seattle Times is suing two of its own funders. Microsoft Philanthropies underwrites some Seattle Times journalism projects. In 2024, Microsoft and OpenAI jointly funded a $10 million Lenfest Institute AI fellowship that included both the Seattle Times and Newsday among its inaugural participating newsrooms. The Times says it maintains editorial independence.
A Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement Friday evening, “While we’re surprised by the lawsuit, we appreciate the importance of the Seattle Times to our region and we’re always happy to sit down and explore solutions to this type of dispute.”
It’s not clear if there were negotiations or licensing talks in advance of the suit. GeekWire has contacted The Seattle Times Co. for comment.
In its own coverage of the lawsuit Friday evening, the newspaper quoted a memo from Seattle Times Co. President and CEO Alan Fisco, saying: “This was not an easy decision. However, we feel strongly that we must defend our content — which we spend millions of dollars a year to produce — from being used without our consent or compensation.”
Fisco, a longtime Seattle Times executive, took over as CEO on Jan. 1, succeeding Frank Blethen, who led the paper for 40 years and remains chair of the board. Ryan Blethen, Frank Blethen’s son and a fifth-generation member of the family that has owned the paper since 1896, became publisher in the same transition.
The complaint Friday includes examples of ChatGPT reproducing Seattle Times and Newsday journalism nearly word for word, including an 88-word verbatim stretch from The Seattle Times’ Pulitzer-winning coverage of the Boeing 737 MAX crashes, generated when a user prompted the chatbot with just the article’s headline and web address.
The suit echoes The New York Times’ 2023 copyright case against the same defendants, which just this week drew a U.S. Justice Department brief siding with Microsoft and OpenAI, arguing that a ruling for the publishers would stifle American AI development.
The newspapers join a growing list of publishers suing OpenAI and Microsoft over AI training. In addition to the New York Times, that includes the New York Daily News, Ziff Davis and the Center for Investigative Reporting, all consolidated before U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein in Manhattan.
On Friday, the publishers in that case moved for summary judgment, as did OpenAI and Microsoft.
OpenAI has struck licensing deals with more than a dozen other outlets, including The Associated Press, News Corp and Axel Springer. Publicly disclosed terms of three of those deals top $300 million, according to the Seattle Times complaint.
Stifel zvýšil cílovou cenu Microsoftu na 530 USD z 450 USD, ale ponechal doporučení Neutral. Analytik vidí zlepšení u Copilotu a Azure, avšak stále ne dostatečný poměr rizika a zisku pro Buy.
Microsoft MSFT has won a price-target increase from Stifel, but the analyst behind it is not ready to recommend buying the stock.
Stifel analyst Brad Reback raised his Microsoft MSFT target to $530 from $450 following meetings with executives, an increase of nearly 18%. He kept a Neutral rating, creating a split: the operating outlook is improving, but the risk-reward case remains insufficient for a Buy.
Reback’s optimism centers on Copilot. Management described the second half of 2026 as a “step change” in deployment. Weekly active engagement is now “on par with Outlook and Teams,” suggesting Copilot is moving from an add-on toward habitual workplace use.
Quality matters as much as adoption. Customer complaints that dominated conversations a year ago have largely eased following frequent product improvements, according to Reback. That removes a barrier to paid conversions across Microsoft’s enterprise base.
Monetization is following. Microsoft is seeing “moderate acceleration” in premium upgrades to E5, Microsoft 365 Copilot and E7. Because much of the new seat growth comes from lower-priced segments, average revenue per user, rather than volume, is becoming the main growth lever.
Azure provides a second pillar. Reback expects efficiency gains to unlock capacity, sustain business upside and reduce margin drag compared with earlier expectations. That matters because cloud AI growth is constrained not only by customer demand but also by infrastructure and servicing costs.
Microsoft is remaining model-agnostic, combining proprietary and open large language models across Azure, GitHub and Copilot. That approach reduces dependence on one provider while giving customers broader choice.
For investors, the $530 target validates Microsoft’s AI momentum, but the Neutral rating remains a caution signal. Microsoft must now prove that higher Copilot engagement produces durable revenue while Azure efficiencies protect margins. The product direction looks stronger; the question is whether the valuation already reflects it.
Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. ve 2. čtvrtletí zvýšila podíl v Microsoftu o 11,9 % na 17 184 akcií. Hodnota držby činila 6,41 mil. USD.
Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,184 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,821 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.7% of Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. 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 worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Microsoft Stock Up 2.7% MSFT stock opened at $510.12 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $441.99 and its 200 day moving average is $415.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year. Microsoft Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared 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 yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.
Key Stories Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft will begin reporting quarterly Azure revenue in fiscal 2027 and reorganize its financial reporting from three segments into two AI-focused categories. Azure generated approximately $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, providing investors with more visibility into cloud growth and AI demand. Microsoft to reveal Azure cloud sales in financial reporting shift Positive Sentiment: Citi reaffirmed a Buy rating and $600 price target, while other analysts cited Microsoft’s large AI backlog, Azure’s more than $100 billion annual revenue and the potential for improved AI economics. The company’s latest earnings also showed strong momentum, with revenue up 17.7% year over year and a substantial earnings beat. Analyst reaffirms Buy on Microsoft Positive Sentiment: Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, potentially strengthening Microsoft’s AI ecosystem and demand for Azure infrastructure. Microsoft is also securing long-term power capacity for data centers and expanding Microsoft 365 Copilot integrations. OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra Neutral Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth about $43.4 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature of the sale limits its significance, although it reduced his holdings by 15.09% and adds to recent insider selling. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft will impose monthly limits on Xbox cloud-gaming hours for Game Pass subscribers beginning in November as service costs rise. The change may improve economics but could hurt consumer sentiment and gaming engagement. Microsoft to impose time limits on Xbox cloud gaming Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to weigh Microsoft’s roughly $116 billion AI infrastructure spending plan, rising data-center costs and pressure on cloud margins. The key risk is whether the large backlog converts into profitable cash flow rather than simply future revenue. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, CLSA reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $562.49.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft
Insider Buying and Selling In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,335 shares of company stock valued at $53,499,700. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)
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).
See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft The Path to $230 Billion: Broadcom Outlines the Next Phase of Its AI Growth Story NVIDIA’s Hugging Face Deal Raises a Bigger Question About Its AI Moat Now Dropping the Dough: Yum! Brands Strategically Trims the Fat These 3 Stock Charts Just Flashed the Dreaded Death Cross Pattern Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report).
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Goelzer Investment Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 4.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,547 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,732 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.3% of Goelzer Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Goelzer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in 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 last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of 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. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
More Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft will begin reporting quarterly Azure revenue in fiscal 2027 and reorganize its financial reporting from three segments into two AI-focused categories. Azure generated approximately $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, providing investors with more visibility into cloud growth and AI demand. Microsoft to reveal Azure cloud sales in financial reporting shift Positive Sentiment: Citi reaffirmed a Buy rating and $600 price target, while other analysts cited Microsoft’s large AI backlog, Azure’s more than $100 billion annual revenue and the potential for improved AI economics. The company’s latest earnings also showed strong momentum, with revenue up 17.7% year over year and a substantial earnings beat. Analyst reaffirms Buy on Microsoft Positive Sentiment: Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, potentially strengthening Microsoft’s AI ecosystem and demand for Azure infrastructure. Microsoft is also securing long-term power capacity for data centers and expanding Microsoft 365 Copilot integrations. OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra Neutral Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth about $43.4 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature of the sale limits its significance, although it reduced his holdings by 15.09% and adds to recent insider selling. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft will impose monthly limits on Xbox cloud-gaming hours for Game Pass subscribers beginning in November as service costs rise. The change may improve economics but could hurt consumer sentiment and gaming engagement. Microsoft to impose time limits on Xbox cloud gaming Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to weigh Microsoft’s roughly $116 billion AI infrastructure spending plan, rising data-center costs and pressure on cloud margins. The key risk is whether the large backlog converts into profitable cash flow rather than simply future revenue. Insider Activity In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 108,335 shares of company stock worth $53,499,700 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock. Microsoft Stock Up 2.7% Microsoft stock opened at $510.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $441.99 and its 200 day moving average is $415.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 20th. CLSA reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $562.49.
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About Microsoft (Free Report)
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).
See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft The Path to $230 Billion: Broadcom Outlines the Next Phase of Its AI Growth Story NVIDIA’s Hugging Face Deal Raises a Bigger Question About Its AI Moat Now Dropping the Dough: Yum! Brands Strategically Trims the Fat These 3 Stock Charts Just Flashed the Dreaded Death Cross Pattern
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BayBridge Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 28.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,318 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,167 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.0% of BayBridge Capital Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. BayBridge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first 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 during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd 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 period. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Microsoft News Roundup Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft will begin reporting quarterly Azure revenue in fiscal 2027 and reorganize its financial reporting from three segments into two AI-focused categories. Azure generated approximately $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, providing investors with more visibility into cloud growth and AI demand. Microsoft to reveal Azure cloud sales in financial reporting shift Positive Sentiment: Citi reaffirmed a Buy rating and $600 price target, while other analysts cited Microsoft’s large AI backlog, Azure’s more than $100 billion annual revenue and the potential for improved AI economics. The company’s latest earnings also showed strong momentum, with revenue up 17.7% year over year and a substantial earnings beat. Analyst reaffirms Buy on Microsoft Positive Sentiment: Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, potentially strengthening Microsoft’s AI ecosystem and demand for Azure infrastructure. Microsoft is also securing long-term power capacity for data centers and expanding Microsoft 365 Copilot integrations. OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra Neutral Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth about $43.4 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature of the sale limits its significance, although it reduced his holdings by 15.09% and adds to recent insider selling. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft will impose monthly limits on Xbox cloud-gaming hours for Game Pass subscribers beginning in November as service costs rise. The change may improve economics but could hurt consumer sentiment and gaming engagement. Microsoft to impose time limits on Xbox cloud gaming Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to weigh Microsoft’s roughly $116 billion AI infrastructure spending plan, rising data-center costs and pressure on cloud margins. The key risk is whether the large backlog converts into profitable cash flow rather than simply future revenue. Analyst Ratings Changes MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 27th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 20th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $562.49. Check Out Our Latest Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Performance Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $510.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $441.99 and its 200 day moving average is $415.21.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend 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 given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.
Insider Activity at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 108,335 shares of company stock worth $53,499,700 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)
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).
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Microsoft oznámil čtvrtletní výnosy Azure ve výši 29,4 miliardy USD, zatímco Google Cloud dosáhl 24,8 miliardy USD. Alphabet tak zaostává o 4,6 miliardy USD.
Microsoft's disclosure places Alphabet third by revenue while exposing the value of closing a relatively narrow gap. Summary
Google Cloud is smaller, but each market-share point now carries visible value.
Alphabet GOOGL, Google's advertising, cloud and artificial-intelligence machine, faced a blunt new benchmark at $338.31 per share. Microsoft MSFT disclosed $29.4 billion in quarterly Azure revenue, while Google Cloud produced $24.8 billion. Azure is ahead by $4.6 billion. The cloud race finally has a clean scoreboard.
Alphabet is not answering with small checks. Its second-quarter filing showed $119.8 billion in total revenue, with Google Services contributing $94.5 billion. Capital expenditures exploded to $44.9 billion as Alphabet raced to build the data centers, networks and computing muscle behind its AI and cloud push.
Here is the pressure point. Azure's lead equals roughly 18.5% of Google Cloud's revenue, while Google Cloud already generates 20.7% of Alphabet's total sales. Meanwhile, the stock's $338.31 price stands 34.27% above its $251.97 GF Value™ estimate. That is a rich premium. Alphabet now needs its enormous infrastructure bet to close the cloud gap, win profitable market share and prove investors are not paying tomorrow's price too early.
Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.
Microsoft od příštího fiskálního čtvrtletí mění reporting na dvě divize: Devices and Consumer a Agents and Infra. Nově poprvé zveřejní čtvrtletní tržby platformy Azure.
Microsoft is switching up its reporting structure for the AI era. As of the next fiscal quarter, its current three reporting segments—Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing—will be replaced with two brand new ones: Devices and Consumer, and Agents and Infra, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Devices and Consumer is a pretty self-explanatory segment, including revenue from Microsoft’s customer-facing products like Xbox and Windows devices, as well as from LinkedIn and search advertising.
But Agents and Infra is a more obtuse title. It’s a bit of a catch-all for revenue from Microsoft’s other products, including its AI models, cloud infrastructure, and Microsoft 365 (including its Copilot features). The change means Microsoft will be disclosing quarterly revenue for its cloud-computing platform Azure for the first time.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the change to the company’s reporting structure is meant to reflect how artificial intelligence is shaking up the way Microsoft operates.
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“There’s no question Al represents a profound shift in both technology and business,” he said during a recent presentation. “To reflect this and provide increased transparency to investors, we are updating our financial reporting to mirror how the business is operating, how we allocate resources, and where we are headed.”
“This integrated architecture across Agents and Infra is how we think about engaging with customers and driving their outcomes, building products, and monetization,” Nadella continued. “It’s no longer about building or selling one app or service, but about connecting the entire trajectory of a ‘job to be done.’”
Microsoft’s history of wacky wordsAgents and Infra sounds more like a video game subtitle than a department at one of the world’s biggest tech companies. But it’s far from the first time Microsoft has gotten . . . ahem, creative with its corporate vocabulary.
Microsoft zavádí od listopadu měsíční limity na cloudové hraní Xbox pro předplatitele Game Pass, aby lépe vyvážil využití a rostoucí náklady. Předplatitelé Game Pass Ultimate budou mít 15 hodin cloudového hraní měsíčně za 22,99 USD, Game Pass Premium 10 hodin za 14,99 USD a Game Pass Essential 5 hodin za 9,99 USD. Za extra hodiny si budou moci připlatit.
Microsoft's Xbox unit said Thursday that it will impose monthly cloud gaming time limits for Game Pass subscribers after years of unlimited access, as the company seeks to find a better balance between usage and costs.
Players will be able to pay for additional hours beyond the caps, which go into effect in November.
Across product organizations, Microsoft executives have been devising ways to charge customers based on usage to better reflect rising costs. Demand is climbing for the software company's finite amount of computing power — not unlike its technology peers — and clients of artificial intelligence products such as GitHub Copilot and the Microsoft 365 Copilot increasingly pay based on how much they use.
"We're introducing this model because the cost of providing cloud gaming grows as more people use it and play for longer," Xbox said in a blog post. "Moving to monthly limits allows us to keep offering the service while continuing to invest in its reliability and performance. We understand that for some players the practical result is a higher cost."
Users with high-end Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions, which cost $22.99 per month, will have access to 15 hours of cloud gaming. Game Pass Premium account holders, who pay $14.99 per month, will have 10 hours of cloud-based playtime, while Game Pass Essential, which costs $9.99 a month, includes five hours, according to the blog post.
Inside Xbox, new CEO Asha Sharma has been busy evaluating business model changes to return the division to growth and boost profitability. In July, Xbox said it would test ad-supported game streaming.
Just 4% of Game Pass subscribers spend more time each month streaming games through the cloud, Microsoft said. The company did not specify fees for extra hours.
Those who don't subscribe to Game Pass will be able to buy cloud gaming time to stream games they already own, Xbox said.
Microsoft ve 4. fiskálním čtvrtletí 2026 zvýšil cloudové tržby meziročně o 27 % a objem nevyřízených zakázek vzrostl o 84 % na 678 miliard USD. Azure zároveň překonal 100 miliard USD v ročních opakovaných tržbách.
Microsoft (MSFT -0.84%) continues to deliver exceptional quarterly results, with cloud computing playing a major role. Not only was cloud revenue up by 27% year over year in its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter, but that growth came along with sales backlog growth of 84% year-over-year to $678 billion.
It also came during a period when Microsoft Azure topped $100 billion in annual recurring revenue. All of these details create the narrative of a growing business, and for investors considering buying now, Microsoft's forward P/E ratio of 25 is the icing on the cake.
Image source: Getty Images.
High cloud revenue visibility makes future growth more predictable Microsoft has been consistently delivering double-digit percentage revenue growth rates for many years. It has grown its top line at a compound annual rate of 14.6% over the past decade, and that compound annual growth rate (CAGR) accelerated to 16.1% over the past three years.
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Artificial intelligence tailwinds that have boosted the demand for enterprise cloud solutions are the major catalysts. Microsoft Cloud made up roughly two-thirds of total revenue. This segment is also growing faster than most of Microsoft's businesses, so its continued success should lift total revenue and net income growth rates.
Microsoft Cloud revenue also came to 8.7% of its commercial remaining performance obligations. The backlog is growing at a faster rate than realized revenue. Eventually, all of that backlog will be realized as sales, which makes the stock's forward P/E ratio of 25 quite compelling.
AI-fueled cloud growth is a multiyear trend The shift isn't just happening at Microsoft. Amazon's (AMZN +0.02%) cloud platform saw its highest revenue growth rate in more than four years, while Alphabet (GOOG +0.53%) (GOOGL +0.63%) reported 82% year-over-year growth in Google Cloud revenue in the second quarter.
Cloud computing is becoming more important because it is the digital backbone of so many AI platforms and services. Grand View Research projects a 30.6% CAGR for the artificial intelligence industry through 2033, and all of that growth will require more complex cloud computing plans and storage. It's one of the main reasons why hyperscalers are scrambling to accumulate as much compute capacity as possible. They'll need more infrastructure to keep up with demand.
Although Microsoft has made many of its early investors wealthy, the stock has largely missed out on AI-driven momentum in 2026. It's only up by roughly 3% this year despite revenue and net income growth rates comfortably exceeding that return. These types of mismatches do not last forever, and a low valuation combined with strong fundamentals may serve as an open invitation for patient investors.
Marc Guberti has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Microsoft vyplatí čtvrtletní dividendu 0,91 USD na akcii, stejně jako v předchozích dvou letošních výplatách. Akcionáři s nárokem k 20. srpnu obdrží výplatu 10. září.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has declared its next quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share payable Thursday, September 10, 2026, to shareholders of record on August 20, 2026.
Investors holding 100 MSFT shares as of the ex-dividend date will receive $91 next week. As such, the payment is unchanged from the previous two payments this year issued on June 11 and March 12.
Microsoft quarterly dividend history. Source: Microsoft At a share price of $496.82 as of press time, September 3, and a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, you would need approximately 109.89 Microsoft shares to round up the dividend to $100. In other words, it would require an investment of about $54,590, or about 110 shares.
If the corporation does not increase the payout, the yearly Microsoft stock dividend for 2026 will total exactly $364.
Microsoft Corp. dividend profile Microsoft boasts among the most consistent dividend track records in the technology sector, with a forward yield of 0.73% and an annualized dividend of $3.88 per share.
What’s more, the software leader has increased its dividend for 24 consecutive years, and with a conservative forward payout ratio of 18.45%, it has considerable flexibility to continue raising its payouts.
Historically, Microsoft shares have also recovered quickly following their ex-dividend dates, taking an average of just 1.9 days. While the company’s 0.73% dividend yield is below the broader technology sector average of 1.37%, Microsoft has emphasized consistent dividend growth and long-term share price appreciation rather than pursuing a high-yield strategy.
That approach has paid off in 2026 too. The stock is up around 5% year-to-date as of press time, and a $10,000 investment in Microsoft at the start of the year, assuming all dividends were reinvested, would now be worth approximately $10,348. That translates into $48.73 in reinvested dividends and $299.98 in capital gains.
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Microsoft poprvé zveřejnil čtvrtletní tržby Azure: 29,4 miliardy USD, což ho staví za Amazon, ale před Google. Firma zároveň mění reporting na dva segmenty.
Microsoft (MSFT.O) on Wednesday reported sales from its Azure cloud computing unit on a quarterly basis for the first time, providing a direct comparison to its top rivals Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google as the three compete in the computing market amid an AI data center boom.
Microsoft said that Azure had $29.4 billion in sales in its most recently ended quarter and $101.9 billion in sales in its most recent fiscal year ended June 30. The figures place Microsoft behind Amazon, whose cloud sales were $42.2 billion in its most recent quarter, but ahead of Google, which reported $24.8 billion in cloud sales in its most recent quarter.
Microsoft previously reported a closely watched growth rate for Azure but not its sales. Microsoft will move from three reporting segments to two: one called "Agents and Infra" that will include its cloud computing services, its sales from AI-based software and its revenue from more traditional business software, and one called "Devices and Consumer" that will include its Windows operating system, its Xbox gaming unit and its advertising sales across both its Bing search engine and LinkedIn, the business-focused social network.
"There's no question AI represents a profound shift in both technology and business," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement accompanying the change. "It is changing what we build and how we operate, and it is blurring the boundaries between our products and reshaping our business models."
Microsoft also updated the quarterly forecast it gave investors last month, slightly lowering it its Azure revenue forecast, but said the changes reflected the move of some sales from GitHub, its code-hosting service, which were previously grouped with Azure, to grouping those with its M365 Cloud software businesses, which includes most of its advanced AI offerings. Microsoft's overall current quarter outlook remains unchanged, the company said.
Microsoft is a major cloud computing provider to OpenAI, which exclusively used Microsoft for training its models until changes in the terms of its deal allowed it to work with Amazon Web Services and others.
AWS had $128.7 billion in sales for calendar 2025, and Microsoft Azure had sales of $85.8 billion over the comparable four-quarter period. Google has not reported full-year cloud sales.
Microsoft shares rose about 1.4% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the company disclosed the change.
Cox Capital Mgt LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 13.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,610 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,669 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.7% of Cox Capital Mgt LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Cox Capital Mgt LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,434,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $562.49.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on MSFT Insider Transactions at Microsoft In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,810 shares of company stock worth $10,110,874. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Microsoft News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target to $600 from $500 and maintained a Buy rating. The bank cited accelerating cloud growth, improving AI efficiency and better visibility into returns on investment. Its thesis includes approximately 43% Azure growth and more than 30 million paid Copilot seats, implying substantial upside. Microsoft’s AI strategy accelerates cloud growth and efficiency: analysts Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its HUMAIN partnership in the Middle East and Africa. The companies plan to combine HUMAIN ONE with Microsoft 365 Copilot and IQ capabilities for as many as one million enterprise users, while also bringing Arabic-language AI models to Microsoft’s ecosystem. The deal supports Microsoft’s international AI distribution and enterprise monetization strategy. Microsoft extends HUMAIN tie up Positive Sentiment: Analysts and financial media continue to view Microsoft as a leading hyperscaler, citing Azure demand, Copilot adoption, strong cash generation and a valuation that remains reasonable relative to its growth prospects. Technical coverage also places MSFT in or near a potential buy zone after its recent rally. Why Microsoft’s stock could rally another 20% Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft customers can now deploy Laurel through the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another application to the company’s enterprise distribution ecosystem, though the immediate financial effect was not disclosed. Laurel Now Available in the Microsoft Marketplace Negative Sentiment: Microsoft 365 and Outlook outages persisted into a second day. Although service appeared to be improving, prolonged disruptions could frustrate enterprise customers and raise questions about reliability. Microsoft 365 outage drags on Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on Microsoft’s approximately $116 billion in fiscal 2026 property and equipment spending. Continued AI infrastructure investment may support long-term growth but could pressure depreciation, margins and returns if demand fails to keep pace. Rising interest rates and Windows 11 update problems add further near-term risk. Microsoft Trading Down 1.2% Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $501.02 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $436.21 and its 200-day moving average is $413.78.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.
Microsoft Profile (Free Report)
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).
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Google má brzy vydat nový kódovací model 3.8 flash, který podle vlastních inženýrů překonává Claude Opus od Anthropicu při interním programování. Není to ale model 3.5 Pro, který Sundar Pichai slíbil v červnu.
Sundar Pichai promised a flagship AI model in June, prediction markets already declared it dead by August, and Google just shipped something else entirely. What that substitution reveals about DeepMind's internal chaos and Alphabet's cloud ambitions is the story investors…
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Google is reportedly about to ship a new coding model that its own engineers say they prefer to Anthropic’s Claude Opus for internal work. That is a real development for developer mindshare, but it is also not the model Sundar Pichai promised earlier this year, and the gap between shipping cadence and shipping substance is starting to matter to the stock.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG | GOOG Price Prediction, NASDAQ:GOOGL) closed at $335.02 on September 1, 2026, down 5.93% over the past month even as the year-to-date figure sits at 7.17%. The one-year return is still 57.8%, so this is the kind of manageable pressure that surfaces when a leadership team keeps promising a step change and delivers steady, incremental releases instead.
What CNBC’s Sigalos Actually Said On CNBC, reporter MacKenzie Sigalos summarized Wall Street Journal reporting on the impending release. “Google’s AI team is set to release a new model 3.8 flash. This apparently has upgraded coding capabilities.”
She continued: “It could come as soon as tomorrow, and the company’s engineers telling the Journal that they actually prefer it to Anthropic’s Opus model in terms of performing internal coding tasks.” Then the important qualifier: “This is not 3.5 Pro, which Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai promised back in June. Nor is this Gemini Forge, the real step change that we have been waiting for from Gemini.”
And the organizational overhang: “This comes amid an exodus of talent from the DeepMind lab as we see this big reorg internally.” The internal-engineer preference counts as suggestive evidence at best. It is self-reported and unbenchmarked, filtered through a newspaper.
Why a Cheap Coding Model Matters for Cloud Margins A fast, cheap Flash model that outperforms a leading rival on coding tasks matters because coding is where inference costs get paid. Developers who lean on a model all day generate volume, and volume is where Google Cloud captures margin. Pichai told investors that Gemini models now process 22 billion API tokens per minute, and that the Gemini App has 950 million monthly active users.
Cloud revenue is where this shows up first. Google Cloud grew 82% in the second quarter to $24.77 billion, and Pichai said “nearly 90% of the Fortune 100” now use Gemini Enterprise. Details are in the Q2 8-K exhibit.
Consolidated revenue was $119.8 billion, up 24.23% year over year, with operating income of $40.77 billion. The problem is what sits underneath: capex hit $44.9 billion in the quarter, free cash flow turned negative at -$5.86 billion, and long-term debt jumped from $46.5 billion to $98.2 billion. Buybacks were suspended.
Credibility Is Slipping at DeepMind A missed or delayed flagship is as much a management question as a technology one. Pichai committed to Gemini 3.5 Pro in June, and prediction markets on Polymarket had already resolved against a Pro release by August 31, 2026, with the “no release” outcome winning with an accuracy score of 0.971. A Flash 3.8 release by September 30 was priced at probability 0.991, so the market expected exactly this substitution.
DeepMind departures compound concerns because frontier model quality is concentrated in a small group of researchers, and a reorganization during a competitive sprint tends to cost momentum. Microsoft has its own silicon coming, Meta keeps open-sourcing capable models, and Anthropic, which Google itself funds, is why Claude sits atop many developer stacks.
The earnings reactions have been complicated too. Every one of the last 12 quarters was a beat, yet the average one-day reaction was -0.48%. The Q2 report carried a 199.41% surprise, and shares still fell 7.13% that session.
Is GOOG Stock a Buy? At a P/E of 17x, Alphabet is cheaper than Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Meta (NASDAQ:META) on forward earnings, cheaper than Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) on almost any measure, and it owns the only rival stack that competes credibly with Anthropic and OpenAI in coding, search, and cloud at once. Analysts show 58 buys and 6 holds with a target of $428.07.
The AI capex is real and the flagship is late, but a coding model developers actually reach for is likely worth more to cloud economics than a headline benchmark win (all that spending also has to be powered, cooled and networked by somebody, which is the whole point of our free report on seven AI infrastructure suppliers behind the buildout, here), which is why the setup remains constructive despite the noise around delayed flagships.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Sam Altman odmítl obavy, že moderní datová centra spotřebují příliš vody. Pro investory je větší riziko odpor veřejnosti, který už brzdí povolování nové AI infrastruktury.
Public resistance is becoming another constraint on AI expansion Summary
Altman says modern facilities use far less water than feared
OpenAI backed microsoft MSFT CEO Sam Altman is pushing back against one of the most politically sensitive criticisms of the AI infrastructure boom, arguing that fears over data-center water consumption are exaggerated. But the broader investor problem may be harder to dismiss: public resistance to massive AI facilities is already creating permitting, regulatory and infrastructure risks that could complicate the industry's multibillion-dollar expansion.
“That has been a robust meme and difficult to disprove, but I don't think holds up to any scrutiny,” Altman said of concerns that modern data centers consume excessive amounts of water.
There is evidence supporting part of his argument. A Virginia government review found that most individual data-center buildings use roughly as much water as, or less than, an average large office building. But usage varies enormously: some facilities consumed more than 50 million gallons annually, while one used 243 million gallons in 2023.
Altman also argued that an individual ChatGPT request consumes very little water. He has previously estimated an average query uses about 0.000085 gallons, or roughly 0.32 milliliters.
The challenge is perception at the community level. A May Gallup poll found roughly seven in 10 Americans opposed new AI data centers in their area. Half of opponents cited excessive resource consumption, with 18% specifically mentioning water use.
That opposition matters as OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet and other AI leaders race to secure unprecedented amounts of computing capacity.
Investors TakeawayFor AI investors, the key issue is increasingly not whether demand for computing exists, but how quickly new capacity can actually be built.
Water availability, electricity costs, zoning battles and local opposition could slow data-center approvals and increase project costs. Virginia, the country's largest data-center hub, is already moving toward additional reporting and conservation requirements around water use.
Altman acknowledged that changing public sentiment ultimately requires demonstrating tangible benefits. “I think the right way to get people to like something is to deliver them value.”
For investors, that makes community acceptance another infrastructure constraint worth watching alongside chips, power and financing.
Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.
Microsoft řeší, zda se mu vrátí 115,9 miliardy USD kapitálových výdajů do AI; právě to rozhodne o dalším směru akcie. Ve 4. čtvrtletí tržby vzrostly na 90,01 miliardy USD a Azure meziročně o 43 %.
Microsoft just staged one of its sharpest recoveries in years, but a single unanswered question about its $115.9 billion spending spree will decide whether that momentum holds or collapses under its own weight.
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The trillion-dollar question hanging over Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) is whether its $115.9 billion AI capex bet earns a return worthy of a mega-cap multiple, or ends up as the largest overbuild in tech history. That answer determines where the stock goes over the next twelve months.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Microsoft is $609.58, implying 18.7% upside from the current price of $513.53. We rate the shares a buy with high confidence at 90%.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $513.53 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $609.58 Upside 18.7% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% Azure Crossed $100 Billion and the Stock Woke Up Microsoft has recovered sharply. Shares are up 6.27% in the past week and 31.74% over the past month, though only 1.6% higher year over year after bottoming near $395 in July.
The fiscal Q4 report on July 29, 2026 delivered revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.75%, non-GAAP EPS of $4.74, and Azure growth of 43%. Azure crossed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time, and commercial RPO ballooned to $678 billion, up 84%. Q1 FY27 Azure guidance calls for approximately 45% constant-currency growth.
Bull Case: $700 or Higher The bull case rests on Copilot monetization accelerating alongside Azure supply catching up to demand. Microsoft 365 Copilot has passed 30 million paid seats, seat additions more than doubled quarter over quarter, and usage-based billing gives Satya Nadella a second monetization engine on top of per-seat pricing.
Foundry now has 100,000 customers, revenue has more than doubled year over year, and nearly 90% of the Fortune 500 are grounding agents through the platform.
Our bull-case one-year path lands at $709.58, or 38.18% upside, if Azure sustains 40%-plus growth and Copilot ARPU expands.
What Could Go Wrong The bear case starts with capex. FY26 capital spending hit $115.9 billion, up 79.62%, and free cash flow fell 6.46% for the year. Q4 EPS also benefited from a $3.2 billion Anthropic mark-up, flattering underlying business growth.
Management extended data-center useful life from 15 to 25 years, supporting FY27 margins and giving flexibility to slow COGS if demand softens. Our bear-case path still lands at $520.81, essentially flat.
How Microsoft Compares to Alphabet and Oracle Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is the sharpest valuation counterpoint. Google Cloud grew 82% in Q2 2026 to $24.77 billion, yet Alphabet trades at a trailing P/E of just 15 against Microsoft’s 29. That gap makes our target look demanding on a relative basis, though Microsoft’s 40.31% net margin dwarfs peer profitability.
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is the pure-play AI infrastructure comp. Oracle’s IaaS revenue grew 93% and RPO reached $638 billion, larger than Microsoft’s commercial book, but Oracle burned $23.7 billion in negative free cash flow. Microsoft generates $66.99 billion in FCF while building at similar scale. On that basis, the peer group makes our 24/7 Wall St. price target reasonable rather than aggressive.
Microsoft Price Prediction 2026-2030 The 24/7 Wall St. price target of $609.58 and buy rating reflect a business monetizing AI in real time while retaining pricing power peers cannot match.
The setup looks constructive if Q1 FY27 Azure comes in at or above 45% constant-currency growth. Conviction weakens if capex intensity pushes free cash flow negative or Copilot seat additions stall.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $547 2027 $613 2028 $697 2029 $758 2030 $829 These projections assume Microsoft executes on Azure capacity and Copilot monetization. Significant upside or downside will come from the pace of AI ROI and whether hyperscaler capex intensity stabilizes. All of that spending has to be powered, cooled, and networked by somebody, and we profiled seven of those suppliers in a free report on the AI infrastructure buildout.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Microsoft otevře v listopadu 2026 datacentrový region Saudi Arabia East se třemi zónami dostupnosti Azure. Tržby Azure a dalších cloudových služeb vzrostly o 43 % a celoroční tržby Azure poprvé překročily 100 miliard USD.
Key Takeaways Microsoft will open its Saudi Arabia East region in November 2026 with three Azure availability zones.Microsoft added 31 datacenters and 1 gigawatt of capacity as Azure revenues surpassed $100 billion.Microsoft expects roughly $175 billion in 2026 capex and further growth in fiscal 2027. Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) stock is back in focus after the company confirmed that its Saudi Arabia East datacenter region will become available to customers in November 2026, marking a fresh milestone in its global cloud and artificial intelligence buildout. Announced at the LEAP 2026 technology forum, the new region — located in the Eastern Province and comprising three Azure availability zones — will let government and private-sector organizations in the Kingdom run cloud and AI workloads locally, with an estimated $44 billion in projected economic activity from Microsoft's cloud technologies flowing to the Saudi economy between 2027 and 2030.
The launch extends Microsoft's global Azure footprint, which now spans more than 70 regions across 33 countries, and follows a similar pattern of aggressive AI infrastructure rollout seen through 2026.
This latest expansion is best understood against the backdrop of Microsoft's fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results, reported on July 29. Revenues for the quarter rose 18% year over year to $90 billion, while Azure and other cloud services revenues grew 43%, pushing full-year Azure revenues past $100 billion for the first time. Microsoft Cloud revenues reached $59.3 billion in the quarter, up 27%, and commercial remaining performance obligations climbed 84% to $678 billion, underscoring the scale of contracted future demand. The company added 31 datacenters and roughly one gigawatt of capacity during the quarter, part of a plan to double overall capacity within two years.
Capital spending, the financial engine behind this expansion, totaled $41 billion for the quarter, with roughly two-thirds directed toward short-lived assets such as GPUs and CPUs. For 2026, Microsoft's capital expenditure outlook stands at approximately $175 billion, adjusted from an earlier $190 billion figure following an accounting change that extends the useful life of datacenters and office buildings from 15 to 25 years. Management has guided for capital expenditures to grow further in fiscal 2027, citing sustained demand signals across its cloud and AI portfolio, alongside continued double-digit revenue and operating income growth.
Taken together, the Saudi Arabia launch and the broader capacity build-out reinforce that Microsoft's AI datacenter strategy is no longer a future promise but an operating reality reshaping its revenue base.
Amazon and Alphabet Ramp Up AI Infrastructure SpendingMicrosoft's datacenter push mirrors similar moves by Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) and Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , both racing to expand AI capacity. Amazon raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to roughly $220 billion, up from $200 billion, as AWS revenues grew 37% to $42.2 billion in the second quarter with a $496 billion backlog. Alphabet increased its 2026 capex outlook to $195-$205 billion from $180-$190 billion after Google Cloud revenues surged 82% and its backlog reached $514 billion. While Amazon and Alphabet outspend Microsoft in absolute capex terms, all three companies point to demand outpacing available capacity as the primary driver.
MSFT’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesMSFT shares have returned 3.6% in the year-to-date (YTD) period against the Zacks Computer – Software industry’s decline of 3.7%. The Zacks Computer and Technology sector has appreciated 15.5% in the same time frame.
MSFT’s YTD Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, MSFT stock appears overvalued, trading at a forward 12-month price/earnings ratio of 24.78X, higher than the industry’s 23.13X. MSFT has a Value Score of D.
MSFT’s Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MSFT’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $19.59 per share. The estimate indicates 9.14% year-over-year growth.
Microsoft currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
OpenAI uvedla 1. září, že její nový model Astra dosáhl v kyberbezpečnosti úrovně „Critical“, ale kvůli přísnějším kontrolám může být jeho širší zavádění pomalejší. To zvyšuje riziko pro Microsoft, který je na OpenAI stále silně navázán.
Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI has been central to its artificial intelligence strategy, but a forthcoming model highlights a growing risk as more powerful AI may also become harder to deploy quickly.
OpenAI said on September 1 that Astra has reached the “Critical” cybersecurity capability threshold under its Preparedness Framework, the first OpenAI model to receive that designation.
Astra can identify previously unknown vulnerabilities and build working exploit chains against hardened systems with limited human guidance.
For MSFT investors, the issue is whether increasingly capable models require safeguards stringent enough to slow commercialisation across Azure and Copilot.
OpenAI says Astra represents a significant jump from GPT-5.6 Sol in cybersecurity.
During testing, the model discovered unknown vulnerabilities, built a browser-compromise chain that escaped a sandbox and identified weaknesses in a hardened operating system.
Those abilities could be valuable for cybersecurity, coding and autonomous agents. But OpenAI has imposed tighter controls because the same capabilities could be misused.
The company delayed parts of Astra’s development while strengthening protections. Advanced cyber functionality will initially be available only to a limited group, while monitoring systems can interrupt risky activity.
OpenAI acknowledges that safeguards may create more friction than desired at launch.
That matters because OpenAI remains important to Microsoft. Under an amended April agreement, Microsoft remains OpenAI’s primary cloud partner, retains model and product IP rights through 2032 and continues receiving revenue-sharing payments through 2030.
KeyBanc analyst Jackson Ader warned in July that Microsoft’s “partnership and quasi-ownership” of OpenAI creates dependence risk. He questioned whether OpenAI was a sufficiently “stable wagon” for Microsoft’s AI strategy.
Also read: OpenAI says its ads business has hit $1B run-rate
Bank of America analyst Tal Liani raised his Microsoft price target to $600 from $500 on September 1 while maintaining a Buy rating. His bullish case rests partly on Microsoft becoming model-agnostic.
According to MarketWatch, Liani said that Microsoft can “reserve the largest and most expensive models for complex tasks” while using cheaper models for high-volume workloads.
He also argued that Copilot’s value does not “depend exclusively” on OpenAI, Anthropic or any other provider.
Microsoft increasingly combines internal models with external ones, routing workloads according to cost, performance and complexity.
That flexibility matters if Astra proves difficult to deploy broadly. Microsoft can use it where its capabilities justify additional controls while directing routine workloads elsewhere.
D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria argues enterprises increasingly need an “orchestration layer” above frontier models so they can switch providers and route tasks based on cost, performance and risk.
“Microsoft has already built the orchestration layer – it is called Copilot,” Luria said in comments reported by TipRanks. He maintains a Buy rating and $550 target.
That view becomes more relevant as Astra requires stronger governance.
Enterprises may not simply want the most powerful model available. They may need software deciding which model can reach sensitive data, what actions an agent can perform and when a safer model should replace a more capable one.
For Microsoft, that could make Copilot’s control layer more valuable even as frontier AI becomes harder to deploy.
Astra is not inherently bearish for Microsoft. The risk is that powerful OpenAI models require tighter access, heavier monitoring or slower rollouts just as Wall Street expects AI monetisation to accelerate.
Microsoft získává další podporu od Bank of America, která zvýšila cílovou cenu na 600 USD a čeká zrychlení růstu Azure na 45 % v 1Q27. BofA to přičítá AI strategii firmy.
Bank of America analysts are even more bullish on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) after the company’s latest results showed accelerating Azure growth tied to its AI strategy.
The firm reiterated a Buy rating and raised its price target to $600 per share from $500.
“Microsoft’s 4Q26 results provided further validation of its AI strategy, with Azure growth
accelerating from 39% in 3Q26 to 43% 4Q26 and guidance of 45% in 1Q27,” BofA analysts wrote, per CNBC.
Nvidia’s AI Financing StrategyThat momentum in AI is echoed by Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), which is actively financing AI infrastructure.
Nvidia disclosed during its earnings call that it extended payment terms for some investment-grade customers to 60 days, a move aimed at removing financial bottlenecks in AI deployment.
Trending
The company has invested nearly $50 billion in frontier AI labs and partnered with major financial firms to raise over $500 billion in third-party infrastructure capital. The strategy supports AI data centers through revenue-sharing arrangements, providing minimum revenue guarantees for neocloud operators. Nvidia’s initiatives demonstrate its commitment to sustaining AI’s momentum.
Bill Ackman’s Microsoft BetMicrosoft’s AI-driven growth aligns with Bill Ackman‘s investment strategy. Ackman had already made Microsoft one of his largest disclosed investments, with Pershing Square Inc. (NYSE:PS) Capital Management’s first-quarter 2026 Form 13F showing Microsoft as its fourth-largest holding.
Ackman’s early conviction in Microsoft is gaining technical confirmation as the stock continues to rally.
Technical AnalysisMicrosoft’s RSI(14) stands at 64.74, indicating a neutral signal, with the stock trading 15.29% above its 50-day SMA of $435.91 and 16.57% above its 200-day SMA of $431.13. The 50-day SMA is currently above the 200-day SMA, forming a golden cross and suggesting a continuation of the positive trend.
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Microsoft letos zvýší čtvrtletní dividendu na zhruba 1,00 USD na akcii, tedy asi o 10 %, pokud zopakuje svůj dlouhodobý zářijový vzorec. Firma tím prodlouží sérii 16 ročních zvýšení.
Microsoft (MSFT -0.69%) will send its shareholders their next dividend payment ($0.91 per share, declared on June 10) on Sept. 10. For most dividend stocks, that would be the least interesting data point of the month, because the payment arrives right at the time of year when the board has historically announced its annual increase. The latter is likely what dividend investors will care about more.
The software giant has raised its dividend every year for more than a decade -- 16 consecutive annual increases, all announced in September. The most recent came on Sept. 15, 2025, when the board brought the quarterly payment from $0.83 to $0.91 -- an increase of just under 10%.
That track record is steady enough to support a real forecast. So let's make one.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
A raise in the same band year after yearMicrosoft's dividend growth has been strikingly stable.
The last six annual increases were 9.8%, 10.7%, 9.7%, 10.3%, 10.7%, and 9.6% -- all within a band between 9.6% and 10.7%. And a longer window barely changes the story. The quarterly payment has grown from $0.36 at the end of 2015 to $0.91 at the end of 2025, which equates to about a 9.7% annual compound rate over that decade.
Apply that band to the current payment of $0.91, and the next quarterly dividend lands between about $1.00 and $1.01.
So the answer from history is specific. Expect about $1.00 per quarter, or $4.00 a year, which would be an increase of about 10%, likely announced in September. Of course, the calendar is a pattern, not a promise. Microsoft has not scheduled or confirmed anything, and a board can always go off script.
Can the spending surge bend the pattern?The reasonable concern is Microsoft's capital expenditures. The company allocated $115.9 billion to property and equipment in fiscal 2026 (the year ended June 30) -- an 80% jump from last year as it builds artificial intelligence (AI) data center capacity.
All that construction eats into the cash that would otherwise accumulate. Despite a 34% rise to $182.9 billion in operating cash flow, only about $67 billion in free cash flow remained after capital expenditures -- compared with about $72 billion a year earlier.
The earnings underlying the payment, however, are growing much faster than the payment itself. Fiscal 2026 revenue grew 18% to $331.8 billion, and Azure revenue crossed $100 billion for the year while rising 41%. The company's net income of $133.7 billion, meanwhile, came in 31% above the prior year.
A dividend that grows 10% a year while earnings grow at rates like those becomes safer each year, not riskier.
Now consider what the dividend actually costs. At $0.91 per quarter across about 7.4 billion shares, Microsoft pays out about $27 billion a year. That's about 15% of operating cash flow, and about 20% of the $17.95 per share the company earned in fiscal 2026. And a 10% increase adds something like $2.7 billion a year to the tab -- manageable but still meaningful.
Still, the AI spending surge is squeezing Microsoft's free cash flow, and even the squeezed figure still covers the dividend more than twice over.
The only unknown is the sizeIf anything bends this September's figure, I would expect it to bend toward the lower end of the band and not below it. With data center construction of that scale still underway, boards tend to protect flexibility. An increase near 9% or 10% preserves the streak and is easy to fund.
Could the board surprise with something larger? Yes, it has room. But nothing in its behavior for a decade suggests it wants to grab headlines with the dividend, and I don't expect it to start now.
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The dividend yield will remain small either way. At about $505 per share, Microsoft yields about 0.7%, and an extra dime per quarter doesn't change that.
The increase, assuming one occurs, matters for what it signals, which is a payment that grows through every cycle -- AI construction included.
So what will this year's raise amount to? I expect a move to about $1.00 per quarter, announced in September, in the same band as the last six. For investors who own Microsoft, the most important thing to watch is free cash flow. The dividend is easily affordable today. Whether it remains so depends on a data center bill that's still rising.
Cardinal Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,815 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,163 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $29,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd 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. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% in the third quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Better Money Decisions LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the second quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,498 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. CLSA reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Barclays dropped their target price on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.27.
View Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT Insider Activity In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Stock Up 1.7% Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $513.53 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $430.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $412.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed 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 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.
Key Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s strong Azure and cloud performance helped drive a rally of roughly 48% from its June low, with the stock reaching a 10-month high and moving above a technical buy point. A recently formed “golden cross,” in which the 50-day moving average moved above the 200-day average, also supports bullish momentum. Bull v. Bear: MSFT Hits 2026 High, is a New Record Next? Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly in early discussions with Moonshot AI regarding its Kimi K3 model. A potential arrangement could add another AI service to Azure and create a new revenue stream, although negotiations are not finalized. MSFT Stock Alert: Moonshot Could Give Microsoft Another AI Revenue Stream Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s deployment of more than 25 AI agents across its supply chain illustrates early enterprise use cases for agentic AI, including demand forecasting, freight routing and inventory management. Successful internal deployments could support broader adoption of Microsoft’s AI tools. Microsoft Puts 25 AI Agents to Work on Supply Chain Costs Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is spending heavily on AI infrastructure—approximately $175 billion this year—and has reassured employees that data-center investment is intended to support long-term growth. Azure reportedly surpassed $100 billion, while contracted backlog and commercial bookings remain major valuation supports. Microsoft Reassures Employees About AI Data Center Impacts Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s gains have helped lift major indexes, but the strength is concentrated in a few mega-cap technology stocks while small caps and many sectors weaken as bond yields rise. This creates a broader market-risk backdrop despite Microsoft’s relative strength. Dow Jones Futures: Microsoft, Titans Mask Market Weakness Negative Sentiment: One analyst argued that Microsoft’s valuation rerating may be largely complete for now, raising the risk of profit-taking after the recent monthly rally. At the current valuation, further gains may require continued upward revisions to cloud and AI growth expectations. Microsoft: The Rerating Is Probably Over For Now Microsoft Profile (Free Report)
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).
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Canvas Wealth Advisors ve 2. čtvrtletí zvýšila podíl v Microsoftu o 13,1 % a nakoupila dalších 9 568 akcií. Po nákupu držela 82 424 akcií v hodnotě 30,746 milionu USD.
Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 82,424 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,568 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.3% of Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week: Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s strong Azure and cloud performance helped drive a rally of roughly 48% from its June low, with the stock reaching a 10-month high and moving above a technical buy point. A recently formed “golden cross,” in which the 50-day moving average moved above the 200-day average, also supports bullish momentum. Bull v. Bear: MSFT Hits 2026 High, is a New Record Next? Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly in early discussions with Moonshot AI regarding its Kimi K3 model. A potential arrangement could add another AI service to Azure and create a new revenue stream, although negotiations are not finalized. MSFT Stock Alert: Moonshot Could Give Microsoft Another AI Revenue Stream Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s deployment of more than 25 AI agents across its supply chain illustrates early enterprise use cases for agentic AI, including demand forecasting, freight routing and inventory management. Successful internal deployments could support broader adoption of Microsoft’s AI tools. Microsoft Puts 25 AI Agents to Work on Supply Chain Costs Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is spending heavily on AI infrastructure—approximately $175 billion this year—and has reassured employees that data-center investment is intended to support long-term growth. Azure reportedly surpassed $100 billion, while contracted backlog and commercial bookings remain major valuation supports. Microsoft Reassures Employees About AI Data Center Impacts Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s gains have helped lift major indexes, but the strength is concentrated in a few mega-cap technology stocks while small caps and many sectors weaken as bond yields rise. This creates a broader market-risk backdrop despite Microsoft’s relative strength. Dow Jones Futures: Microsoft, Titans Mask Market Weakness Negative Sentiment: One analyst argued that Microsoft’s valuation rerating may be largely complete for now, raising the risk of profit-taking after the recent monthly rally. At the current valuation, further gains may require continued upward revisions to cloud and AI growth expectations. Microsoft: The Rerating Is Probably Over For Now Microsoft Price Performance MSFT opened at $513.53 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $430.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $412.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Evercore set a $528.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.27.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT
About Microsoft (Free Report)
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).
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Annex Advisory Services LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 235,346 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,595 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.5% of Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $87,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Arete Research lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.27.
Read Our Latest Analysis on MSFT Insider Activity In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Microsoft Stock Up 1.7% Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $513.53 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.59, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $430.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $412.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.
Microsoft News Roundup Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s strong Azure and cloud performance helped drive a rally of roughly 48% from its June low, with the stock reaching a 10-month high and moving above a technical buy point. A recently formed “golden cross,” in which the 50-day moving average moved above the 200-day average, also supports bullish momentum. Bull v. Bear: MSFT Hits 2026 High, is a New Record Next? Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly in early discussions with Moonshot AI regarding its Kimi K3 model. A potential arrangement could add another AI service to Azure and create a new revenue stream, although negotiations are not finalized. MSFT Stock Alert: Moonshot Could Give Microsoft Another AI Revenue Stream Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s deployment of more than 25 AI agents across its supply chain illustrates early enterprise use cases for agentic AI, including demand forecasting, freight routing and inventory management. Successful internal deployments could support broader adoption of Microsoft’s AI tools. Microsoft Puts 25 AI Agents to Work on Supply Chain Costs Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is spending heavily on AI infrastructure—approximately $175 billion this year—and has reassured employees that data-center investment is intended to support long-term growth. Azure reportedly surpassed $100 billion, while contracted backlog and commercial bookings remain major valuation supports. Microsoft Reassures Employees About AI Data Center Impacts Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s gains have helped lift major indexes, but the strength is concentrated in a few mega-cap technology stocks while small caps and many sectors weaken as bond yields rise. This creates a broader market-risk backdrop despite Microsoft’s relative strength. Dow Jones Futures: Microsoft, Titans Mask Market Weakness Negative Sentiment: One analyst argued that Microsoft’s valuation rerating may be largely complete for now, raising the risk of profit-taking after the recent monthly rally. At the current valuation, further gains may require continued upward revisions to cloud and AI growth expectations. Microsoft: The Rerating Is Probably Over For Now About Microsoft (Free Report)
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).
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Microsoft uvedl, že Azure ve 4. fiskálním čtvrtletí meziročně zvýšil tržby o 43 %. Firma těží z rostoucí poptávky po cloudových službách a investicích do AI.
Microsoft (MSFT +1.68%) has been nearly dead money so far in 2026. It's up around 4% year to date, but only thanks to a surge in recent days and months. Prior to the company reporting its earnings results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 (which ended June 30), the stock was down by more than 20% for the year. That quarterly report jump-started Microsoft's stock, but it's still down by more than 5% from the all-time high it established last year around this time.
Can Microsoft reach a new all-time high before 2026 is over? I think it can, and it's all because of Azure.
Image source: Getty Images.
Microsoft's cloud revenue growth is impressive Microsoft is one of the big four hyperscalers, and it has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in recent years on AI data centers. While it's not the biggest spender of the four, it has still been laying out a ton on capital expenditures, and the fruits of those investments are starting to show up in its results. Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform, saw revenue growth of 43% year over year in fiscal Q4.
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As more of Microsoft's new data centers come online, Azure's revenue will rise due to increased supply. There's a ton of demand out there right now for cloud computing power, and with Azure being one of the largest cloud computing providers -- it boasts a 21% market share -- it will benefit.
Microsoft's Copilot product is also being widely adopted, with over 30 million paid seats. All of this shows that Microsoft's AI plans are working out, which suggests that it's only a matter of time before the stock rises to a new all-time high.
Additionally, on a forward price-to-earnings basis, Microsoft's stock is trading below where it normally does. For the past three years, Microsoft has averaged a valuation of about 29 times forward earnings. Now, it trades for 25.6.
MSFT PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.
If all Microsoft did was rise from its current valuation to its average one, the stock would rise by more than 10%, which would put it at a new all-time high. So, I think it's well within Microsoft's grasp to achieve a new record share price before 2026 is over, but is that a good enough reason to buy the stock?
Microsoft is a solid AI stock pick, but I think there are better ones out there. The time to buy Microsoft was in July, not now. I think there are several other stocks that are growing faster and are more attractive than Microsoft, and even though it's in line to set a new all-time high, I'm not sure whether it can deliver impressive returns after that. As a result, I'm passing on Microsoft and looking at other top AI stock picks instead.
Microsoft v pondělí vzrostl asi o 1,1 % na 488,93 USD, zatímco Nasdaq táhly dolů polovodiče. Čtvrtletní tržby stouply o 18 % na 90 mld. USD a objem komerčních remaining performance obligations vyskočil o 84 % na 678 mld. USD.
Microsoft MSFT , the enterprise-software, cloud and artificial-intelligence powerhouse, climbed approximately 1.1% to $488.93 Monday even as semiconductor stocks dragged the Nasdaq lower. That resilience is no accident. Investors see Microsoft's colossal contracted backlog as a powerful cushion if the technology trade cracks again.
Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue jumped 18% to $90 billion, Azure growth accelerated to 43% and commercial remaining performance obligations exploded 84% to $678 billion. Roughly 30% of those commitments should convert into revenue within 12 months, while Microsoft Cloud revenue advanced 27% to $59.3 billion. The demand is already booked. Now Microsoft must deliver it.
The valuation picture adds fuel to the bull case: Microsoft's $488.93 share price sits 15.51% below its $578.67 GF Value estimate. But the AI buildout carries a brutal price tag. Quarterly capital expenditures topped $41 billion, driving free cash flow down 23% to $19.6 billion. Investors still believe Microsoft can transform aggressive infrastructure spending into durable cash generation, but the widening gap between operating cash flow and free cash flow is the pressure point that cannot be ignored.
Xbox představil 25 chystaných her a sází na ně jako na hlavní tahoun návratu růstu ve fiskálním roce 2027. Herní tržby MSFT ve fiskálním roce 2026 klesly o 7 % na zhruba 21,8 miliardy USD, přesto platforma přidala více než 200 milionů hráčů.
Key Takeaways MSFT unveiled 25 upcoming games as Xbox looks to return to growth in fiscal 2027.Xbox gaming revenues fell 7% to $21.8 billion in fiscal 2026 despite adding 200 million players.Sony and Nintendo offset weaker hardware with software and digital revenues, unlike Xbox. Microsoft's (MSFT - Free Report) Xbox division is leaning on an unusually dense upcoming release calendar as it works to reverse a multi-quarter sales slide, with the fiscal 2027 slate positioned as the primary lever to lift the gaming business back into growth. At gamescom 2026 in Cologne, held as part of Xbox's 25th-anniversary celebrations, the company showcased 25 upcoming titles across 140 gaming stations, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Fable, Gears of War: E-Day, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Forza Horizon 6, Metro 2039 and Alien: Isolation 2. Fable is slated for a Feb. 23, 2027, launch, while the Gears of War: E-Day open beta began on Aug. 6, 2026, giving the portfolio a staggered rollout across the new fiscal year rather than a single release window.
The roster push follows a weak close to fiscal 2026. In the fourth quarter, ended June 30, 2026, total Xbox revenues fell 10% year over year to roughly $4.98 billion, with content and services revenues down 10% and hardware revenues down 13%, marking the segment's softest quarter in more than two years. Xbox operating income declined 14% (15% in constant currency), with margins compressing to 21% amid severance and impairment charges tied to a broader restructuring, including job cuts and the spin-out of four studios under new Xbox leadership. For the full fiscal year, gaming revenues declined 7% to approximately $21.8 billion, even as the platform added more than 200 million new players.
Management has tied the recovery explicitly to content. On the earnings call, leadership indicated the company is resetting its content portfolio, platform and operations, and expects Xbox to return to growth in fiscal 2027. Whether the newly unveiled lineup can convert the expanded player base into recovered revenues will depend on execution through the holiday quarter and into early 2027, when several flagship titles are scheduled to ship.
Sony vs. Nintendo: A Contrasting PictureMicrosoft's gaming struggles stand out against rivals Sony (SONY - Free Report) and Nintendo (NTDOY - Free Report) , both of which posted profit gains in the same April-June 2026 quarter despite softer hardware sales. Sony's PlayStation segment reported operating income up 37% to ¥202 billion, even as PS5 hardware revenues fell, while Nintendo's operating profit more than doubled to ¥142.5 billion despite Switch 2 hardware sales dropping 34.4%. Both Sony and Nintendo leaned on software and digital revenues to offset hardware weakness, whereas Xbox recorded no comparable offset, with content, services and hardware revenues all declining in the same period.
MSFT’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesMSFT shares have remained unchanged year to date (YTD). The Zacks Computer – Software industry has declined 5.9% YTD, while the Zacks Computer and Technology sector has appreciated 15.7%.
MSFT’s YTD Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, MSFT stock appears overvalued, trading at a forward 12-month price/earnings ratio of 23.99X, higher than the industry’s 22.86X. MSFT has a Value Score of D.
MSFT’s Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MSFT’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $19.59 per share. The estimate indicates 9.14% year-over-year growth.
Microsoft currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The S&P 500 is up by more than 10% this year, and its growth has outpaced Microsoft (MSFT +1.01%), but I don't think that trend will last too much longer. Microsoft's 20% return over the past month shows that more investors are spotting the opportunity.
Its earnings results were the major catalyst behind the surge, and there were a few details in the report that make me think Microsoft is a more promising investment now than the broad-market S&P 500.
Image source: Getty Images.
Cloud computing revenue continues to grow Most of Microsoft's growth is coming from its cloud computing unit. Revenues from that part of the business were up by 27% year over year in Microsoft's fiscal 2026 fourth quarter.
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This segment has maintained high growth rates for many quarters, and I believe that trend will continue. Artificial intelligence (AI) has boosted enterprise demand for cloud platforms. Competitors like Amazon (AMZN +1.24%) and Alphabet (GOOG +1.37%) (GOOGL +1.46%) have reported strong demand for their cloud platforms that continues to accelerate.
Cloud computing operates on a recurring revenue model, and Microsoft's established customers will have to upgrade their plans as their needs evolve. It's extremely cumbersome to switch from one cloud platform to another, and it's not worth the effort if the differences between Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet are marginal.
Microsoft continues to enhance its cloud offering to boost retention and attract new customers. Microsoft Cloud provides a broad model catalog of more than 11,000 models. This selection aids customers that want "the right model for each task, based on quality, latency, cost, and compliance," per the earnings call transcript.
Other business segments are also doing nicely I still view cloud computing as the major story for Microsoft, and continued growth in this segment will help the tech stock outperform the S&P 500 in the future. It accounted for roughly two-thirds of Microsoft's revenue in its fiscal 2026 Q4, but the businesses that generated the remaining third of sales still show some upside potential too.
Artificial intelligence has also translated into higher growth rates for Microsoft's other businesses. LinkedIn and online advertising revenue were up by 12% and 10% year over year, respectively.
Microsoft 365 commercial cloud revenue also rose 16% year over year. The company's "more personal computing" segment, which includes online ads, Xbox, and Windows OEM and devices, was down by 4% year over year. While I would prefer if every segment were delivering revenue growth, this part of Microsoft's business only represented 14.3% of total sales.
Microsoft stock may be suffering from the company's success. While some growth investors are chasing smaller AI stocks in the hopes of more substantial gains, Microsoft steadily delivers better fundamentals each quarter.
Overall revenue and operating income were both up by 18% year over year in the most recent quarter. Those numbers beat most companies in the S&P 500, and to top it off, Microsoft has a lower price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio than the index. These factors explain why I view Microsoft as a better opportunity than the market's most popular benchmark.
The S&P 500 has a lot of dead weight It's not just that Microsoft is a great stock. I also believe investors should look deeper into any index fund or exchange-traded fund they want to buy. For instance, the S&P 500 has recently derived a large portion of its gains from the "Magnificent Seven" stocks, but a closer look reveals many stocks are flat or down this year.
More than 150 S&P 500 holdings are down year to date, while fewer than half of the stocks in this index have a 10% return or higher.
Admittedly, Microsoft is in neither of those categories. It's up year to date, but not by much. However, Microsoft's stock price movements have not kept pace with its improving fundamentals. Meanwhile, some S&P 500 stocks are overextended and more vulnerable to future corrections.
Tech stocks like Microsoft often do the heavy lifting for the S&P 500, and the stock price should eventually catch up with Microsoft's fundamental growth. That's why I like Microsoft better than the S&P 500.
Microsoft je v závodě o AI přehlížený, přesto Azure právě překročil 100 miliard USD ročních výnosů a Copilot se stal nejrychleji monetizovaným podnikových produktem v historii firmy.
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Microsoft has become the quiet outlier in the AI trade. While NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) absorbs the spotlight and hyperscaler rivals chase headlines, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is quietly compounding the deepest enterprise AI moat in software.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Microsoft is $590.17, implying upside of 22.13% from a current price of $483.24. We rate it a buy with high confidence, driven by an Azure business that just crossed $100 billion in annual revenue and a Copilot franchise that has become the fastest-monetizing enterprise product in the company’s history.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $483.24 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $590.17 Upside 22.13% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% Why Microsoft Feels Overlooked Right Now Microsoft shares are down 3.37% over the past year and roughly flat year to date, even after ripping 24.03% in the last month.
The July earnings report was a statement: revenue of $90.01 billion grew 17.75%, non-GAAP EPS came in at $4.74, and Azure grew 43%. The stock reacted with a 15.51% day-of pop, its strongest earnings reaction in the dataset. Retail sentiment on Reddit has followed, with recent posts on the OpenAI stake driving bullish readings.
Bull Case: Path to $614 and Beyond Bulls see Microsoft as the purest scaled beneficiary of enterprise AI adoption. Commercial remaining performance obligations sit at $678 billion, up 84%, a backlog that de-risks near-term revenue. Management guided Q1 FY27 Azure growth to approximately 45% in constant currency, and CFO Amy Hood flagged that “demand continues to exceed available supply.”
Copilot has cleared 30 million paid seats, GitHub Copilot revenue accelerated over 60% quarter over quarter, and a new per-seat plus consumption model expands the TAM materially. Our bull scenario points to $614.33, a 27.13% return, on stronger Azure re-rate and Copilot ARPU expansion.
Bear Case: Capex Digestion Risk The main risk is the sheer cost of the buildout. Full-year capex hit $115.95 billion, up 79.62%, and free cash flow fell 23.19% in the quarter. Bears argue this compresses returns if AI demand normalizes. All that spend flows straight to the power, cooling, and networking vendors behind the racks (we broke down seven of those suppliers in a free report here: 7 Stocks Powering the AI Boom).
That said, bulls counter that the FCF decline reflects heavy investment in capacity management has repeatedly said is fully monetized in-quarter, and net income still grew 31.33%. Our bear-case target is $507.22, still modestly positive, reflecting the durability of the installed base.
How Microsoft Stacks Up Against Alphabet and Amazon Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is the most direct cloud AI comparable. Google Cloud accelerated to 82% growth in Q2 2026, hitting $24.77 billion, and Alphabet is guiding $175 to $185 billion in 2026 capex. Google Cloud is growing faster, but Azure is much larger at scale, and Microsoft’s Copilot attach into Office 365 remains structurally hard to replicate.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) trades at a P/E of 36, meaningfully richer than Microsoft’s 27, despite AWS growing 37% in Q2, a slower rate than Azure’s 43%. That valuation gap makes our $590 target look conservative.
Bottom Line: I’d Buy It Here The 24/7 Wall St. price target of $590.17 and buy rating carry 90% confidence. The tipping factor is the disconnect between Microsoft’s growth acceleration and its P/E of 27, cheaper than Amazon on far higher margins.
I’d be a buyer here if Azure sustains 40%-plus growth into FY27. I’d stay on the sidelines if capex intensity keeps free cash flow negative on a YoY basis for another two quarters.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $590 2027 $607 2028 $712 2029 $784 2030 $837 These projections assume Microsoft sustains Azure growth above 30% and Copilot seat expansion continues. Meaningful upside or downside could come from OpenAI’s evolving relationship with Microsoft or a broader slowdown in enterprise IT budgets.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Beacon Investment Advisory Services snížila ve 2. čtvrtletí podíl v Microsoftu o 1,8 % a prodala 3 335 akcií. Po transakci držela 181 210 akcií v hodnotě 67,595 milionu USD.
Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. reduced its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 181,210 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,335 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.5% of Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $67,595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Markel Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 8.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management raised its position in Microsoft by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the period. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its position in Microsoft by 138.8% in the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $502,077,000 after buying an additional 788,297 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. HSBC lowered their target price on Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 27th. Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.27.
Read Our Latest Report on MSFT Insider Activity In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing to launch its Maia 300 AI accelerator as soon as this fall and is discussing production with TSMC. Developing proprietary chips could reduce long-term reliance on Nvidia, improve supply-chain control, and support Microsoft’s expanding AI infrastructure. Microsoft’s Betting Big on Its Own AI Chips Positive Sentiment: Meta has reportedly become one of Microsoft’s largest Azure AI customers, spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually and consuming substantial computing capacity. The relationship reinforces evidence that enterprise demand is translating into Azure revenue. Meta Emerges as a Major Microsoft Azure AI Client Positive Sentiment: Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, while Azure revenue reportedly surpassed $100 billion. Analysts and financial commentators also highlighted a roughly $678 billion backlog and continued strong demand for cloud and AI services. Microsoft Raises Dividend as AI Capital Spending Hits Record Levels Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft approved the Horizon 1 Texas data-center project involving IREN, potentially expanding capacity available for AI workloads. The development is strategically relevant, although the near-term financial benefit to Microsoft remains unclear. Microsoft Accepts Horizon 1 Negative Sentiment: Annual capital spending has climbed nearly 80% to about $115.9 billion, while free cash flow declined. Investors remain focused on whether AI revenue growth will generate adequate returns on this spending. Microsoft Spent $115.9 Billion on AI Negative Sentiment: TCI Management reportedly exited its Microsoft position and increased its Alphabet stake, adding a notable institutional-selling signal. Separately, commentary warned that Microsoft’s valuation depends on optimistic earnings forecasts, while higher bond yields could reduce the present value of future AI profits. TCI Exits Microsoft Microsoft Price Performance Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $483.24 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $419.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $409.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.
Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)
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).
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Community Trust & Investment Co. ve 2. čtvrtletí zvýšila podíl v Microsoftu o 7,1 % a nakoupila dalších 17 044 akcií. Drží 256 067 akcií v hodnotě 95,518 mil. USD.
Community Trust & Investment Co. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 7.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 256,067 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 17,044 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.9% of Community Trust & Investment Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $95,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insiders Place Their Bets In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $540.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target (up from $570.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.27. View Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
Key Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing to launch its Maia 300 AI accelerator as soon as this fall and is discussing production with TSMC. Developing proprietary chips could reduce long-term reliance on Nvidia, improve supply-chain control, and support Microsoft’s expanding AI infrastructure. Microsoft’s Betting Big on Its Own AI Chips Positive Sentiment: Meta has reportedly become one of Microsoft’s largest Azure AI customers, spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually and consuming substantial computing capacity. The relationship reinforces evidence that enterprise demand is translating into Azure revenue. Meta Emerges as a Major Microsoft Azure AI Client Positive Sentiment: Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, while Azure revenue reportedly surpassed $100 billion. Analysts and financial commentators also highlighted a roughly $678 billion backlog and continued strong demand for cloud and AI services. Microsoft Raises Dividend as AI Capital Spending Hits Record Levels Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft approved the Horizon 1 Texas data-center project involving IREN, potentially expanding capacity available for AI workloads. The development is strategically relevant, although the near-term financial benefit to Microsoft remains unclear. Microsoft Accepts Horizon 1 Negative Sentiment: Annual capital spending has climbed nearly 80% to about $115.9 billion, while free cash flow declined. Investors remain focused on whether AI revenue growth will generate adequate returns on this spending. Microsoft Spent $115.9 Billion on AI Negative Sentiment: TCI Management reportedly exited its Microsoft position and increased its Alphabet stake, adding a notable institutional-selling signal. Separately, commentary warned that Microsoft’s valuation depends on optimistic earnings forecasts, while higher bond yields could reduce the present value of future AI profits. TCI Exits Microsoft Microsoft Price Performance Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $483.24 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The company’s fifty day moving average is $419.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $409.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 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 issued 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 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.
About Microsoft (Free Report)
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).
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Microsoft vyplatil dividendu 6,757 miliardy USD. Ve fiskálním roce končícím 30. června 2026 ale kapitálové výdaje dosáhly 115,948 miliardy USD a vyplacené dividendy za celý rok činily 26,445 miliardy USD, zhruba 4,5 USD na každý 1 USD vrácený akcionářům.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) went ex-dividend on August 20, 2026 at $0.91 a share, cutting a check to holders of record for $6,757,245,950, payable September 10, 2026. That single distribution was the largest of the 26 companies going ex-dividend that day, and it dwarfed the runner-up: Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) at $420,798,270. Marriott (NASDAQ:MAR), SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC), and LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) also went ex-dividend the same day, but none came close to Microsoft’s scale.
In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026, Microsoft’s capital expenditures ran to $115.948 billion, up from $64,551,000,000 a year earlier. Dividends paid for the full year were $26.445 billion. That is roughly four and a half dollars of capex for every dollar returned to shareholders. Operating cash flow of $182.935 billion financed it, but free cash flow still declined 6.46% year over year.
September Is the Date Circled on Every Income Investor’s Calendar Microsoft has now paid $0.91 per share for four consecutive quarters, with ex-dates of November 20, 2025, February 19, 2026, May 21, 2026, and August 20, 2026. The board has historically telegraphed its annual raise in mid-September: last year’s step-up from $0.83 to $0.91 was declared September 15, 2025. That leaves the September announcement as the live question. Redmond is not signaling stress. On the fiscal fourth-quarter call, CFO Amy Hood said Microsoft returned “over $43 billion” to shareholders during the fiscal year through dividends and repurchases, and forecast that the company will “remain free cash flow positive in FY27”. But she also flagged that fiscal 2027 capex “will grow year over year, given demand signals across our portfolio”, with the operating-lease shift bringing the reported figure closer to approximately $175 billion. All of that spend has to be powered, cooled, and networked by somebody, and we pulled together seven suppliers doing exactly that in a free AI infrastructure report.
How Microsoft’s Capital Split Compares Amazon reported $131.819 billion of capex for 2025 and paid no dividend at all. Alphabet reported $91.447 billion of capex for 2025 and paid $10.049 billion in dividends. Meta reported $69.691 billion of capex and $5.324 billion in dividends. Microsoft is spending more than any of them and still writing the largest check to holders.
Shares Lag While Capex Surges Shares closed at $481.15 on August 20, 2026, down 3.91% over one year and up 0.12% year to date, though a 21.2% one-month bounce has partly restored sentiment. Backing the spend: Azure crossed $100 billion in annual revenue, Copilot passed 30 million paid seats, and commercial RPO hit $678 billion, up 84%. CEO Satya Nadella framed the trade directly: “We are advancing the frontier on the cost-to-outcome curve, ensuring every customer can turn tokens into business results.” Whether that curve bends fast enough to protect the September dividend cadence is the number investors will be watching.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Cohen Capital Management zvýšil ve 2. čtvrtletí podíl v Microsoftu o 2,3 % na 74 681 akcií. Firma je nyní jeho 3. největší pozicí a tvoří asi 3,8 % portfolia.
Cohen Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,681 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.8% of Cohen Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Cohen Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. China Renaissance lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective (up from $570.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Argus decreased their target price on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.27. Check Out Our Latest Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Price Performance MSFT stock opened at $483.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $419.61 and a 200-day moving average of $409.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.11.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 20.27%.
Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing to launch its Maia 300 AI accelerator as soon as this fall and is discussing production with TSMC. Developing proprietary chips could reduce long-term reliance on Nvidia, improve supply-chain control, and support Microsoft’s expanding AI infrastructure. Microsoft’s Betting Big on Its Own AI Chips Positive Sentiment: Meta has reportedly become one of Microsoft’s largest Azure AI customers, spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually and consuming substantial computing capacity. The relationship reinforces evidence that enterprise demand is translating into Azure revenue. Meta Emerges as a Major Microsoft Azure AI Client Positive Sentiment: Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, while Azure revenue reportedly surpassed $100 billion. Analysts and financial commentators also highlighted a roughly $678 billion backlog and continued strong demand for cloud and AI services. Microsoft Raises Dividend as AI Capital Spending Hits Record Levels Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft approved the Horizon 1 Texas data-center project involving IREN, potentially expanding capacity available for AI workloads. The development is strategically relevant, although the near-term financial benefit to Microsoft remains unclear. Microsoft Accepts Horizon 1 Negative Sentiment: Annual capital spending has climbed nearly 80% to about $115.9 billion, while free cash flow declined. Investors remain focused on whether AI revenue growth will generate adequate returns on this spending. Microsoft Spent $115.9 Billion on AI Negative Sentiment: TCI Management reportedly exited its Microsoft position and increased its Alphabet stake, adding a notable institutional-selling signal. Separately, commentary warned that Microsoft’s valuation depends on optimistic earnings forecasts, while higher bond yields could reduce the present value of future AI profits. TCI Exits Microsoft Microsoft Profile (Free Report)
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).
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Česká národní banka ve 2. čtvrtletí navýšila podíl v Microsoftu o 4,6 % na 2 114 417 akcií. Akcie tvoří 4,3 % jejího portfolia a jsou třetí největší pozicí.
Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,114,417 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 92,079 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.3% of Czech National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $788,720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Arete Research upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. 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 report on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.27.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT Microsoft Stock Performance MSFT stock opened at $483.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $419.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $409.30. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.
Microsoft News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing to launch its Maia 300 AI accelerator as soon as this fall and is discussing production with TSMC. Developing proprietary chips could reduce long-term reliance on Nvidia, improve supply-chain control, and support Microsoft’s expanding AI infrastructure. Microsoft’s Betting Big on Its Own AI Chips Positive Sentiment: Meta has reportedly become one of Microsoft’s largest Azure AI customers, spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually and consuming substantial computing capacity. The relationship reinforces evidence that enterprise demand is translating into Azure revenue. Meta Emerges as a Major Microsoft Azure AI Client Positive Sentiment: Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, while Azure revenue reportedly surpassed $100 billion. Analysts and financial commentators also highlighted a roughly $678 billion backlog and continued strong demand for cloud and AI services. Microsoft Raises Dividend as AI Capital Spending Hits Record Levels Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft approved the Horizon 1 Texas data-center project involving IREN, potentially expanding capacity available for AI workloads. The development is strategically relevant, although the near-term financial benefit to Microsoft remains unclear. Microsoft Accepts Horizon 1 Negative Sentiment: Annual capital spending has climbed nearly 80% to about $115.9 billion, while free cash flow declined. Investors remain focused on whether AI revenue growth will generate adequate returns on this spending. Microsoft Spent $115.9 Billion on AI Negative Sentiment: TCI Management reportedly exited its Microsoft position and increased its Alphabet stake, adding a notable institutional-selling signal. Separately, commentary warned that Microsoft’s valuation depends on optimistic earnings forecasts, while higher bond yields could reduce the present value of future AI profits. TCI Exits Microsoft Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Profile (Free Report)
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).
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The market left Microsoft (MSFT +0.43%) for dead earlier this year.
In June, shares of the tech giant were trading down 30% from their all-time highs, and over the last three years, the stock's performance has lagged the S&P 500, which has grown 76.4% to Microsoft's 53%.
But that could be changing. After a stellar earnings report, Microsoft's stock popped. And analysts at J.P. Morgan think there's more growth in store, raising their 2027 price target for Microsoft's stock from $550 per share to $625 per share. That's a 30% premium to its current price of about $480.
Could Microsoft's share really double in value, reaching $960 per share by 2030?
Yes, it could, for 2 big reasons.
Image source: Getty Images.
Reason No. 1: Microsoft is competitive where it counts, and on the sidelines where it doesn't Artificial intelligence (AI) hyperscalers like Microsoft, Amazon (AMZN -0.57%), and Google parent Alphabet (GOOG +1.05%)(GOOGL +1.22%) have been criticized for excessive AI spending. Much of that spending has been on data center infrastructure to support AI computing, but the companies have also been developing AI tools that make use of that infrastructure.
For all three companies, these include agentic AI features that can be used by developers working on their respective cloud computing platforms. These three platforms (Microsoft's Azure, Amazon's AWS, and Alphabet's Google Cloud) are in direct competition with one another, and Azure has long been in the No. 2 slot. However, all three platforms are seeing revenue and net income soar, which the companies attribute to the introduction of AI features.
In the most recent quarter, revenue from Azure and Microsoft's other cloud services increased 43% year over year. It's a good sign that Azure is posting massive growth despite stiff competition. If it can sustain that growth rate over the medium term, its Azure revenue in 2030 would be nearly 6 times what it was in 2025.
Meanwhile, Alphabet's Google Gemini chatbot is locked in fierce competition with Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's ChatGPT. All three companies are devoting significant resources to the continuous improvement of their models. But Microsoft doesn't have to worry about that particular arms race. It owns a stake in Anthropic -- and just recorded a $3.2 billion gain from that investment in its last quarter -- but it doesn't need to spend big on a chatbot with an uncertain ROI.
Image source: Getty Images.
Reason No. 2: Copilot could be a game-changing innovation ... and it works Microsoft's AI assistant Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Right now, Copilot doesn't really have any competition. Google has a product called Gemini Spark that can theoretically perform agentic tasks in Google Workspace apps like Google Docs and Google Sheets, but I've never been able to get it to work.
Last week, for example, I successfully and seamlessly used Copilot to create and animate multiple objects in a PowerPoint slide show. It took about three minutes to perform a task that would have taken me half an hour using other programs. This week, I tried giving the same prompt to Gemini Spark. Instead of creating the animation, Spark created a 10-slide Google Slides deck containing step-by-step instructions on how to create the animation. One slide featured the instruction, "Click the button to simulate the transition between Slide 1 and Slide 2," alongside a button that literally did nothing. Fail!
According to SQ Magazine, Microsoft 365 has nearly 345 million paid subscribers worldwide. In Microsoft's latest quarterly earnings release, CEO Satya Nadella revealed that Copilot has reached over 30 million paid seats, about 9% of users. It's plausible that number could double or even triple as Microsoft 365 users start to recognize the value of Copilot's time-saving features. That would translate to at least tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue, all of which stays with the company instead of going to third parties, helping Microsoft's AI investment to pay for itself.
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Why the numbers add up J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee believes that demand for Microsoft Copilot could bring in as much as $41 billion in additional revenue all on its own, even without factoring in revenue from sales of AI credits. He also expects Azure's revenue growth to accelerate while margins stabilize, supporting further earnings growth. Meanwhile, Microsoft appears to be keeping its AI spend in check, which was a big reason the stock shot upward after its latest earnings report.
All these factors indicate that Microsoft's stock could easily double by 2030. That said, there's still a lot of uncertainty around the AI market's trajectory. But even if Microsoft doesn't quite eke out a double, its solid AI offerings and strong competitive position make it likely to be a long-term winner.
Akcie Microsoftu vzrostly asi o 0,5 % poté, co tržby za fiskální 4. čtvrtletí stouply o 18 % na 90 miliard USD a backlog komerčních závazků vyskočil o 84 % na 678 miliard USD. Azure vzrostl o 43 %.
, the enterprise-software, cloud and artificial-intelligence heavyweight, rose approximately 0.5% to $483.56 Friday afternoon as mega-cap technology stocks clawed back ground. The rebound was hardly explosive. The 30-year Treasury yield remained near a 19-year high, forcing investors to demand more from companies priced for years of future growth.
Microsoft is delivering. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue surged 18% to $90 billion, Azure revenue rocketed 43% and commercial remaining performance obligations exploded 84% to $678 billion. Free cash flow hit $19.6 billion and beat expectations, but it still dropped 23% year over year. The AI machine is growing fast. It is also devouring cash.
That $678 billion backlog is Microsoft's weapon. The company already has the demand; now it must build enough computing capacity to collect the money. Higher yields punish distant profits, but Microsoft can bankroll the expansion internally while weaker rivals reach for expensive debt. The valuation picture adds another twist: the shares trade 16.32% below their $577.84 GF Value™, suggesting Wall Street sees the spending surge but may be underpricing the cash still waiting in the pipeline.
Microsoft po výsledcích za 4. čtvrtletí fiskálního roku 2026 zvýšil tržby na 90 miliard USD, meziročně o 18 %, a Azure poprvé překročil 100 miliard USD ročních tržeb. Akcie ale ustoupily téměř o 8 % z nedávného maxima kolem 520 USD.
Microsoft NASDAQ: MSFT stock surged roughly 30% in the three weeks following its Q4 report for fiscal year 2026 (FY2026).
That made it one of the biggest winners of the tech earnings season. It also reversed a sell-off that had felt overdone.
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However, MSFT just gave back part of its August rally. Shares are down nearly 8% from a recent high near $520.
For anyone who watched the stock rip from $440 to $520 in three weeks and felt like the train had left the station, this dip reads like an opportunity.
Microsoft Stock's Pullback Looks Worse Than the BusinessPrice action drives headlines faster than earnings reports. That's the perception-versus-fundamentals gap in action. Microsoft stock has pulled back sharply from its all-time closing high near $538, and the recent slide from around $520 adds a fresh layer of anxiety for anyone who bought the August breakout.
But a pullback in a stock and a pullback in the underlying business are two different animals. Right now, only one of them is actually happening.
Microsoft's Q4 FY2026 results gave bulls almost everything they could ask for. Revenue hit $90 billion, up 18% year-over-year, while Azure crossed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time. Contracted backlog reached $678 billion, giving investors more visibility into future AI spending than most rivals can offer. Azure itself grew 43% in the quarter, and Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats.
That backlog number is perhaps the most important. It jumped by roughly $51 billion in a single quarter. It represents signed revenue waiting to convert. Companies don't commit $190 billion to capital expenditures (CapEx) on hope.
Management has repeatedly said demand for AI-enabled cloud capacity is outrunning what the company can currently supply. A company that's supply-constrained on its fastest-growing product isn't the one investors should worry about.
Microsoft's AI Spending Is a Hyperscaler-Wide ConcernFree cash flow has compressed as Microsoft plows record sums into GPUs and data centers, and that's the number bears keep circling. It's a legitimate line to watch. But it isn't unique to Microsoft.
Every hyperscaler is running the same playbook. Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL, Amazon NASDAQ: AMZN, and Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META have all raised their own 2026 capital spending guidance in recent months.
The credit market noise adds to the confusion. Hyperscalers, including Microsoft, have more than doubled their collective debt load over the past year to fund the buildout. Bond investors are paying closer attention, and demand for hyperscaler bonds has thinned somewhat from earlier in the year.
But analysts covering this debt are largely consistent on one point: these companies aren't in financial distress. The financing is simply moving further off-balance sheet, into private credit and leasing structures that are harder for the average investor to see. That's a sector-wide question worth monitoring over the next several years. But it says nothing specific about whether Microsoft's core Azure business is healthy today.
MSFT Chart Shows a Constructive SetupZoom out on the chart, and the sell-off looks less like a breakdown and more like digestion after a violent recovery. Microsoft's 50-day moving average sits at $418.11, still below the 200-day at $431.48, but the gap has narrowed sharply since the stock's April lows near $345.
If the 50-day continues climbing at its current pace, a golden cross — the 50-day crossing above the 200-day—is a realistic setup over the coming weeks. That crossover doesn't guarantee anything on its own, but it typically confirms an intermediate-term trend shift rather than just a headline price bounce.
Just as important, this week's pullback found support right around the $480 level, which had acted as resistance in June and July. Old resistance becoming new support is a classic technical tell that the breakout above it was rooted in real demand.
Microsoft's Pullback Could Give Investors a Second ChanceInvestors who sat out Microsoft's April-to-August recovery watched the stock nearly double off its lows and understandably felt like they'd missed the move. A stock that runs hard without you creates a very human urge to wait for the next dip, only to talk yourself out of buying it when it shows up, because the headlines during the dip sound worse than the ones during the run.
This week is that dip. The business didn't get worse between last Thursday and today. Azure demand still exceeds supply. The backlog is still growing faster than the stock can price it in. The CapEx concerns are real, but they belong to the entire hyperscaler cohort, not to Microsoft alone.
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Microsoft zvýšil kvartální dividendu na 0,91 USD na akcii, ale jeho masivní investice do AI a cloudu dál tlačí volný peněžní tok. Za fiskální rok utratil 115,948 miliardy USD na capex, zatímco volný peněžní tok klesl o 6,46 % na 66,987 miliardy USD.
Microsoft shareholders just cashed a bigger check. On August 20, 2026, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) went ex-dividend at $0.91 per share, up from $0.83 a year earlier. At $481.15, that annualizes to a yield south of 1%. It is the sort of raise long-term holders have come to expect. What is unusual is what sits on the other side of the ledger.
Dividend Raise Collides With a $115.9 Billion Buildout [chart:MSFT]
For the fiscal year ended June 30, Microsoft spent $115.948 billion on capital expenditures, a 79.62% jump aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure. Net income rose 31.34% to $133.749 billion. Free cash flow, however, fell 6.46% to $66.987 billion. Microsoft returned $26.445 billion in dividends and repurchased $22.271 billion in stock. In fiscal 2025, capex was $64.551 billion against $24.082 billion in dividends. Capex is now growing roughly eight times faster than the payout.
Fiscal Q4 alone captures the strain: $35.802 billion of capex, up 109.63%, with quarterly free cash flow down 23.19% to $19.639 billion.
What Shareholders Actually Received The tangible returns are real. Azure surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue, up 41%. Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats. Commercial remaining performance obligations hit $678 billion, up 84%, a backlog that dwarfs annual revenue. CEO Satya Nadella framed the payoff: “This year, Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time, and Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats.”
Price action tells a more ambivalent story. MSFT is down 3.91% over the past year from $500.75, though it has snapped back 21.2% in the past month off a July low of $397. Year to date, shares are essentially flat at 0.12%. The forward P/E of 24 and analyst target of $569.56 suggest Wall Street still believes, with 40 buy ratings and 14 strong buys against three holds.
Peer Context and the September Test For scale, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) spent $91.447 billion on capex and paid $10.049 billion in dividends in calendar 2025. Microsoft outspent that and returned more than double the cash. All of that spending has to be powered, cooled, and networked by somebody, and we pulled together seven suppliers riding the buildout in a free AI infrastructure report.
CFO Amy Hood signaled the intensity will not ease. She told analysts the calendar 2026 outlook, adjusted for a lease-accounting shift, moves to approximately $175 billion, adding: “We expect FY27 capital expenditures will grow year over year, given demand signals across our portfolio,” and “We expect to remain free cash flow positive in FY27.”
Microsoft has historically declared its annual dividend increase in September. The September 15, 2025 declaration lifted the quarterly rate to $0.91. The next raise announcement is weeks away, and it will be the clearest signal yet of whether the AI buildout is squeezing the payout, or whether Nadella can keep funding both.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Microsoft formálně převzal kontrolu nad Horizon 1, prvním ze čtyř datových center IREN v Texasu, a tím začal generovat první fakturovatelné výnosy z pětileté smlouvy za 9,7 miliardy USD. Akcie IREN nejprve vyskočily o 6 %, ale během první hodiny se vrátily na beze změny na 42,54 USD.
Former Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) miners pivoting into AI infrastructure are moving Friday morning after a landmark acceptance milestone. IREN (NASDAQ:IREN) stock rallied 6% to $45.26 after Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) formally accepted Horizon 1, the first of four data centers being built for the hyperscaler at IREN’s Childress, Texas campus. However, within the first hour of trading, IREN stock was back to unchanged at $42.54.
Meanwhile, TeraWulf (NASDAQ:WULF) shares advanced 1% to $16.61. Cipher Digital (NASDAQ:CIFR) stock diverged, falling 5% to $16.35.
Microsoft stock is essentially unchanged at $481.27, and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares are flat at $216.96. The Global X Data Center and Digital Infrastructure ETF (NASDAQ:DTCR) trades at $28.47, unchanged for the day.
Microsoft Signs Off on Horizon 1 IREN announced that Horizon 1, the first of four data centers it’s building for Microsoft, has been delivered and formally accepted. Microsoft had a five-day window to test the deployment against agreed standards, and once it signed off, IREN was cleared to begin sending monthly invoices.
This marks the first billable revenue under a five-year, $9.7 billion contract, moving the deal from paper commitment to invoiced dollars. Separately, NVIDIA tested the site running its GB300 systems and granted Exemplar Cloud status, a certification reserved for providers that meet NVIDIA’s performance and reliability bar.
Financing Weight Lifts on IREN The bear case on IREN has centered on financing the AI buildout, which costs many times current revenue. Today’s acceptance starts to answer that concern. IREN has lined up a $3.65 billion debt package backed by the Microsoft contract, rated investment grade, covering almost all of the GPU spending tied to the deal.
Before that financing, IREN carried net debt of roughly $1.75 billion. On top of the Microsoft deal, IREN also holds a separate five-year, $3.4 billion cloud agreement with NVIDIA. More than a quarter of IREN’s shares are still sold short, and much of that position assumes the AI pivot fails or the debt load overwhelms the company.
In its most recent quarterly release, IREN reported total revenue of $144.8 million, down 22% sequentially, and a loss of $0.30 per share against a consensus loss of $0.21. IREN’s AI cloud services revenue rose 94% sequentially while Bitcoin mining revenue fell sharply. With a market cap of $16.17 billion, IREN controls five gigawatts of secured power globally and recently acquired Mirantis, a cloud infrastructure software and services provider.
Peers Rise on Read-Across TeraWulf operates the Lake Mariner campus in New York with 102 MW of revenue-generating critical IT capacity and 336 MW under construction. The company has roughly 839 MW of contracted critical IT capacity under long-term leases with customers including Anthropic, Fluidstack, and Core42, across a pipeline of about 2.1 GW (we profiled seven of the power, cooling, and networking suppliers behind this buildout in a free AI infrastructure report). Today’s rise reflects read-across from IREN, which explains the smaller move.
Cipher Mining has 700 MW of contracted gross HPC capacity across its Black Pearl, Barber Lake, and Stingray campuses, representing roughly $11.4 billion in contracted revenue, and is targeting about 5.3 GW of portfolio capacity by 2030. Of the three names, Cipher Mining shares moved least today because that contracted capacity is already disclosed and no new milestone landed.
Materiality Split Between the Two Sides Microsoft and NVIDIA are the counterparties that validated IREN today, and both stocks are essentially unchanged. The same contract that’s transformative for a $16.17 billion company is immaterial to the two firms on the other side of it, which carry market caps of $3.58 trillion and $5.24 trillion respectively.
Global X Data Center and Digital Infrastructure ETF is a narrow thematic fund concentrated in data center and digital infrastructure names, so it carries sector-concentration risk well above a broad technology fund. Top holdings include Equinix, Digital Realty Trust, and American Tower, giving the fund different sensitivity than the pure AI-infrastructure names moving today.
What Investors Can Watch Next Bernstein’s Gautam Chhugani reiterated a Buy rating with a $100 price target on IREN stock, and Needham’s John Todaro maintained a Hold. Across 15 covering analysts, the consensus is Moderate Buy, with 11 Strong Buy ratings, three Hold, and one Strong Sell, alongside a mean price target of $78.64.
Investors can watch for follow-on analyst commentary on IREN’s Horizon 1 revenue ramp timing, with Microsoft revenue expected to begin ramping in Q3 FY2026. Position sizing should reflect the elevated beta of 4.302 and heavy short interest in these names as today’s gains and losses face the test of the closing bell.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Eastern Bank lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 594,556 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 32,366 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.4% of Eastern Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $221,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after acquiring an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, August 10th. New Street Research decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.27.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Microsoft Stock Up 0.3% MSFT opened at $481.63 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $414.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $408.06.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 20.27%.
Key Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Azure and Copilot momentum remain the primary catalysts. Azure reportedly surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue, while Microsoft 365 Copilot exceeded 30 million paid seats. Those milestones reinforce the view that Microsoft is beginning to monetize its AI investments at scale. Price Prediction: One Number Could Decide How High Microsoft Goes in 2027 Positive Sentiment: Strong quarterly results continue to support the bull case. Microsoft’s latest report showed earnings per share of $4.74 versus a $4.24 consensus estimate and revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.7% year over year. Cloud computing and AI helped drive roughly 30% profit growth. These Telltale Signs Cue Microsoft Investors Despite Earnings Surge Positive Sentiment: Enterprise adoption and partnerships are broadening demand. Swiss companies are increasing their use of Microsoft’s AI and cloud products, with governance and data sovereignty controls supporting adoption. S&P Global also expanded its integration of AI-ready data into Microsoft 365 Copilot workflows. Swiss Enterprises Prioritize Microsoft AI Governance Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional sentiment remains constructive. William Blair reaffirmed a Buy rating, citing early AI monetization, while Altarock Partners increased its Microsoft position. Microsoft Buy Rating Reaffirmed About Microsoft (Free Report)
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).
Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than Microsoft The AI Boom Is Turning This Cable Maker Into a Stock to Watch A Star Investor Just Trimmed Amazon—Here’s What It means Wendy’s Deal Buzz May Give Fast-Food Investors a New Reason to Look Home Depot Analysts See a Path to $375 and Beyond Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report).
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Confluence Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 142,894 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 5,717 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $53,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after buying an additional 6,388,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after buying an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after buying an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Trending Headlines about Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Azure and Copilot momentum remain the primary catalysts. Azure reportedly surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue, while Microsoft 365 Copilot exceeded 30 million paid seats. Those milestones reinforce the view that Microsoft is beginning to monetize its AI investments at scale. Price Prediction: One Number Could Decide How High Microsoft Goes in 2027 Positive Sentiment: Strong quarterly results continue to support the bull case. Microsoft’s latest report showed earnings per share of $4.74 versus a $4.24 consensus estimate and revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.7% year over year. Cloud computing and AI helped drive roughly 30% profit growth. These Telltale Signs Cue Microsoft Investors Despite Earnings Surge Positive Sentiment: Enterprise adoption and partnerships are broadening demand. Swiss companies are increasing their use of Microsoft’s AI and cloud products, with governance and data sovereignty controls supporting adoption. S&P Global also expanded its integration of AI-ready data into Microsoft 365 Copilot workflows. Swiss Enterprises Prioritize Microsoft AI Governance Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional sentiment remains constructive. William Blair reaffirmed a Buy rating, citing early AI monetization, while Altarock Partners increased its Microsoft position. Microsoft Buy Rating Reaffirmed Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Arete Research lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.27. Get Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft
Microsoft Trading Up 0.3% Shares of MSFT stock opened at $481.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $414.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $408.06.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.
Insider Activity at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)
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).
Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than Microsoft The AI Boom Is Turning This Cable Maker Into a Stock to Watch A Star Investor Just Trimmed Amazon—Here’s What It means Wendy’s Deal Buzz May Give Fast-Food Investors a New Reason to Look Home Depot Analysts See a Path to $375 and Beyond
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Satya Nadella uvedl, že vlastní AI čipy Microsoftu zvyšují efektivitu až o 40 % oproti předchozí generaci Maia. To může zlepšit marže a snížit závislost na OpenAI.
A record earnings week sent Microsoft's (MSFT +0.27%) stock up 18% in the last week of July. Satya Nadella claimed that the company's custom AI accelerators are delivering up to 40% efficiency-per-watt gains over the last generation of Microsoft Maia chips. That's a signal that Microsoft is turning its huge artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure spend into a more profitable business.
This claim matters because it suggests Microsoft can keep ramping up AI while spending less per unit of compute, and do so on its own terms rather than living on OpenAI's cost structure. Those chips include the Maia accelerator and Cobalt CPU families, designed specifically for Azure workloads and Copilot-level scale.
The message is simple: Microsoft can now get more AI work done per unit of energy and hardware by using its own silicon. That combination of lower running costs and greater control over the stack is exactly what Wall Street needs to see to remain comfortable with a $100-plus-billion-a-year AI build-out.
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The capex backdrop right now This broader efficiency story lands in a world where investors have been fixated on AI capital spending. Microsoft is on track to spend roughly $190 billion in calendar 2026, with the vast majority allocated to data centers, GPU clusters, and related infrastructure.
In FY26 alone, it spent about $116 billion on capex and still managed to grow operating cash flow to roughly $55 billion, even as free cash flow dipped to about $19.6 billion. If each rack of AI hardware runs 40% more efficiently on homegrown chips, the return on that spending improves without Microsoft needing to slow the build-out.
Less dependence on OpenAI's economics Nadella also framed Microsoft's models and chips as a more affordable option than those of OpenAI or Anthropic, whose assistants are powerful but often more expensive to run.
That matters because a large share of Azure's AI demand currently flows through OpenAI, and Microsoft's earnings disclosures show that investments in OpenAI have already weighed on net income in prior quarters.
Shifting more AI volume onto Microsoft silicon and Microsoft software models reduces its exposure to another company's pricing, margin structure, and governance risk.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Image source: Microsoft Corporation.
Why investors should care right now The report for fiscal year 2026 showed Azure growing about 40% to 45%, overall revenue jumping 18% to roughly $332 billion, and contracted AI revenue backlog exploding 84% year over year to about $678 billion. The stock has risen about 15% since then because that growth came with evidence that AI is expanding earnings, not just capex, and that Microsoft can keep scaling without torching its balance sheet.
For shareholders, Nadella's 40% efficiency gain is really a signal about future margins and resilience. If Microsoft can turn a $190 billion infrastructure plan into decades of high-margin AI services using cheaper, in‑house chips, the current spending spike looks less like a dangerous cash burn and more like the foundation of a long‑term cash machine.
Microsoft se držel téměř beze změny, zatímco Nasdaq klesl o více než 1 %. Tržby vzrostly o 18 % na 90 miliard USD a Azure vzrostl o 43 % na více než 100 miliard USD v ročních tržbách.
, the world's leading enterprise software and cloud giant, held near unchanged at $480.78 Tuesday morning while the Nasdaq dropped more than 1%. In a market where investors were aggressively cutting exposure to expensive technology names, Microsoft stood firm — a sign that the AI winners with real revenue are being separated from the hype.
The reason is simple: Microsoft is turning AI spending into actual business growth. The company's latest results showed revenue climbing 18% to $90 billion, while operating income jumped 18% to $40.6 billion. Azure was the headline engine, with revenue surging 43% and crossing the $100 billion annual revenue milestone. Commercial remaining performance obligations also exploded 84% to $678 billion, giving Microsoft a massive pipeline of future revenue.
The valuation story is becoming more interesting. The GF Value chart shows Microsoft trading at $481.28 versus an estimated GF Value of $577.01, leaving the stock approximately 16.6% below its intrinsic value estimate. For a company dominating cloud, AI infrastructure, and enterprise software, that discount suggests the market may still be underestimating the durability of Microsoft's earnings power.
Microsoft's AI bet is no longer just about spending billions on data centers and chips. The payoff is already appearing in Azure demand, customer commitments, and recurring revenue. The biggest risk remains execution — turning enormous infrastructure investments into higher returns. But compared with many AI names still selling a future dream, Microsoft is showing investors the money is already starting to arrive.
Microsoft hlásí, že Azure poprvé překročil 100 miliard USD ročních výnosů a v červnovém čtvrtletí rostl o 43 % meziročně. Vedení zároveň čeká zhruba 45% růst Azure v zářijovém čtvrtletí.
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I hit the buy button on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) again last week, and I will hit it again next month. The stock is down 6.91% over the past year and roughly flat year to date, sitting at $480.35. That is exactly the window I have been waiting for. The consolidation is the invitation.
The Thesis in Plain English My conviction rests on a simple read: Microsoft is deep in the expensive phase of an AI infrastructure buildout, and the software monetization on the other side is already landing in the numbers. Once capacity catches up to demand, the operating leverage shows up in earnings. I want to own the shares before that.
The receipts are on the table. Azure crossed $100 billion in full-year revenue for the first time and grew 43% year over year in the June quarter. Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats, and management guided Azure to roughly 45% growth for the September quarter. Microsoft is already collecting the AI checks.
Three Reasons the Position Keeps Growing First, the backlog. Commercial remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion, up 84% year over year, with a weighted average duration of 2.3 years. Long-term investors want visibility. That is visibility.
Second, the profitability profile. Operating margin sits at 46.78%, return on equity at 34.04%, and return on invested capital at 22.01%. Full-year fiscal 2026 net income was $133.75 billion, up 31.34%. That is what compounding looks like at scale.
Third, the execution rhythm. Microsoft has delivered five consecutive EPS beats, with full-year fiscal 2026 EPS of $17.28 against a $16.78 estimate. Paying 25x forward earnings for a business growing net income above 31% works for my time horizon.
Why Not Amazon or Alphabet The two names a reader might reach for first are Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL). Both are serious cloud competitors. My money keeps landing on Microsoft because of the combination of that 46.78% operating margin, the 22.01% ROIC, and the $678 billion contracted backlog. The OpenAI relationship, with Microsoft’s IP rights extended through 2032 and OpenAI contracted for an incremental $250 billion in Azure services, is a moat I do not see replicated at either peer.
The Risk I Take Seriously Free cash flow fell 6.46% for the full year, and Q4 free cash flow dropped 23.19% as capex jumped 109.63% in the quarter to $35.80 billion. Management is guiding calendar 2026 capex to roughly $175 billion, and every dollar of that flows to the power, cooling, and networking suppliers we profiled in a free report on seven AI infrastructure names that are not chipmakers. If enterprise AI demand stalls, that spend becomes a millstone. I keep buying because CFO Amy Hood said on the call that “demand continues to exceed available supply” and because the RPO backlog is climbing faster than the capex line. Supply is the current constraint.
Why the Buy Button Stays Active The shares traded at $517.85 at the October filing and sit lower today after a strong month. Analyst consensus target is $569.56. I buy because a business earning 34% on equity, growing revenue 17.79%, and sitting on a $678 billion order book is exactly what I want funding the next stage of my retirement account. The consolidation will end. My cost basis will not.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Microsoft mění růstový příběh: místo migrací do cloudu sází na AI agenty a účtování podle využití. Microsoft Cloud ve fiskálním roce 2026 vzrostl na 214 miliard USD, celkové tržby na více než 331 miliard USD.
SUN VALLEY, IDAHO - JULY 09: Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, attends the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference at the Sun Valley Lodge on July 9, 2026 in Sun Valley, Idaho. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Getty Images
This article was written by Doug Nathman, with research by his team at Trefis.
Management no longer begins discussions with cloud migrations, and what has taken their place is priced differently.
Over the course of two years of earnings calls, Microsoft (MSFT) has subtly altered its focus. The growth narrative once emphasized transferring customers’ current workloads into its cloud services. It now prioritizes agents, model selection, and a usage meter. This strategic shift is proving effective, reshaping the revenue profile for shareholders.
Migrations Were A Recognized Growth Catalyst A Year AgoOn the fiscal 2025 first-quarter call the CEO described continued growth in cloud migration, and on the fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter call migrations were accelerating again. By the fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter results, cloud migration no longer leads the prepared remarks, which turn first to the AI platform and infrastructure. Its place has been taken by agents as the workload, inside a model system in which any single model is substitutable. The base is large: Microsoft Cloud passed $168 billion of annual revenue in fiscal 2025, up 23%, and $214 billion in fiscal 2026, up 27%. Microsoft’s overall revenue for fiscal 2026 surpassed $331 billion, up 18%. The cloud grew faster even as management changed the driver it credits.
Per Seat Plus Consumption Represents A Distinct Revenue ModelAs Microsoft transitioned to usage-based pricing throughout the quarter, Copilot revenue on GitHub surged over 60% quarter on quarter. However, that same usage impact affected the gross margin of Intelligent Cloud, although management indicated that margins improved over the quarter due to the business model transition. Azure's usage revenue remains capacity-constrained: management states demand continues to outpace available capacity. The base engine is lagging, with paid M365 Commercial seats increasing by 6% year over year compared to a 14% increase in reported M365 Commercial cloud revenue during the same quarter, thus the additional revenue stems from usage and premium packages within the existing user base.
The Subdued Segment Is The On-Premises Server DivisionOne reason the migration topic has quieted is due to the business that those migrations originated from. Revenue in the on-premises server segment remained relatively stable year over year in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, declining by 1% when adjusted for constant currency. Management projects a decrease in the low to mid-single-digits for fiscal Q1 2027 due to an ongoing shift of customers to cloud solutions and a comparison with the previous year's results.
This transition has not halted; it has simply fallen out of the spotlight. The overall company data indicates no pressure: trailing-twelve-month revenue growth accelerated to 17.8%, with net margin at 40.3%, its highest three-year value.
The M365 Commercial Cloud Growth Rate Will Clarify ThisThis represents a pivot rather than a withdrawal: management anticipates another fiscal year of double-digit revenue and operating income growth in fiscal 2027, with full-year operating margins declining by less than one percentage point. For fiscal Q1 2027, management projected M365 Commercial cloud growth of about 16% in constant currency, adjusting for prior-year revenue recognition, equating to 15% on an as-reported basis, and expects it to gain momentum throughout fiscal 2027 as usage-based billing becomes more prevalent. Acceleration suggests the meter is generating revenue in addition to the seats; a flat trajectory implies the seats remain effective, and rankings of companies whose guidance continually improves are created for that very inquiry.
Microsoft má na konci fiskálního roku 2026 čisté pohledávky 80,876 miliardy USD, což je více než 69,905 miliardy USD o rok dříve. Současně komerční RPO vzrostly o 84 % na 678 miliard USD.
Most earnings-season numbers are designed to be seen: revenue growth gets announced, earnings per share gets a headline, capital expenditure plans get a slide. The line that reveals who holds power in a commercial relationship rarely receives that treatment because it sits on the cash flow statement in a category most readers skim past: the change in accounts receivable.
When receivables grow faster than the underlying business, a company is quietly financing its customers. Andrew Sather, on The Investing for Beginners Podcast, made the case that “sometimes that can signal kind of power dynamics between two companies,” and he pointed to Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) as the example worth studying. The reason his framing matters now is that the artificial intelligence buildout is being financed as much through working capital as through capital expenditure, and the shape of those balances is visible before it shows up in a headline growth rate.
What the Receivables Line Actually Reveals
Microsoft’s current net receivables stood at $80.876 billion at the close of fiscal 2026, up from $69.905 billion a year earlier and $56.924 billion the year before that.
The direction is steady and upward. Sather’s argument is that a supplier extending ever larger amounts of unpaid credit to a dominant customer sits in a different negotiating position than one that collects on time. He attributes part of Microsoft’s pattern to its compute relationship with OpenAI, though that connection is his interpretation rather than a disclosed fact. The broader point holds: concentration multiplies collection risk and the leverage the customer has when contracts come up for renewal.
Sather frames this as “Everything depends on context. Everything has kind of levels to it,” rather than a way to label a company good or bad. A rising receivables balance at a company sitting on Microsoft’s cash reserves signals something different than the same pattern at a smaller supplier without them. He offers the counterexample of heavy equipment sold into multi-year data center construction, where large outstanding balances describe the normal shape of the business.
The Other Side of the Ledger
The mirror image of receivables is contracted revenue not yet recognized, and this is where Microsoft’s position looks like a company that has bound its customers in. Commercial remaining performance obligations grew 84% to $678 billion, with a weighted-average duration of 2.3 years and roughly 30% expected to convert to revenue in the next 12 months.
CFO Amy Hood noted that “all sequential commercial RPO growth was driven by commitments from customers outside of frontier model companies,” and that RPO increased 25% when excluding OpenAI. That disclosure answers the concentration question most directly and deserves to be read alongside the receivables line.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) has run a similar playbook at smaller scale, with a cloud backlog that recently crossed $460 billion, and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) sits on the hardware side of the same trade with $38.466 billion in receivables, a figure reflecting the payment terms typical of channel distribution rather than a subscription business. Reading Microsoft’s receivables line in isolation misses that Azure grew 43% in the quarter and crossed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time.
What an Ordinary Investor Should Do With This
Track the change over several years rather than a single snapshot. Ask whether one customer represents a large enough share of revenue that a collection delay would matter, and look at related disclosures, particularly any allowance for doubtful accounts and any deferred or unearned revenue, which describes the opposite situation of cash collected before the work is done.
Microsoft’s operating cash flow reached $182.9 billion in fiscal 2026, on net income of $133.7 billion, against capital expenditures of $115.9 billion. A rising receivables balance at a business generating that much cash is a different conversation than the same pattern at a company financing growth with debt.
The weight an ordinary investor should give this line is real but bounded. It is a useful early indicator of who is bending toward whom in a contract negotiation and deserves attention during an infrastructure buildout of this scale, when the most consequential relationships in AI are being written into multi-year commitments before they are visible in reported revenue.
It complements, rather than replaces, reading what the company says about concentration, duration, and collections, and it stops well short of a conclusion about credit risk at a firm carrying $758 billion in total assets. Sather’s contribution is to remind readers that revenue growth is the number that is easiest to report and hardest to trust, and that the working capital lines are where the story often shows up first.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
