Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

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Bill Gates handed over the reins of Microsoft (MSFT -0.05%) to Steve Ballmer in early 2000. Gates had built the software business into the world's largest company by market cap, perhaps with a little help from dot-com stock enthusiasm.

To be sure, Ballmer took over the company in a precarious position. Not only were tech stock valuations extremely frothy, but Microsoft was also fighting its antitrust lawsuit. The stock dropped more than 70% as the dot-com bubble popped, but Ballmer never recovered the company's old highs.

The 2008 financial crisis took another bite out of the stock. And while it recovered somewhat with the rest of the market in the early 2010s, Microsoft's stock price was still down more than 32% from when Ballmer took over to when he departed.

His successor and current Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, has had much greater success. The stock has risen more than 14-fold since he took over, producing an annualized return for shareholders exceeding 23%.

Nadella has transformed Microsoft into a cloud computing business across both its enterprise software and Azure cloud platform. The latter is now driving significant overall growth, fueled by AI investments. Microsoft is spending heavily to keep up with demand, and some investors may be wondering whether it can continue to grow its value by around 20% annually after such a tremendous run.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Image source: Microsoft Corp.

Can Microsoft stock keep climbing from here? Microsoft's stock has been under pressure over the past year since the share price peaked in October. While it's mostly recovered from a drop of 35% at one point, the stock still trades about 5% below its all-time high. The drop in the stock price is due to fears regarding artificial intelligence (AI).

AI could impact Microsoft in two ways. First, its enterprise software business, anchored by its Microsoft 365 suite, could be disrupted by AI. Many argue that AI-developed software could displace much of the functionality of, and the need for, existing software solutions. The second way is that Microsoft is spending hundreds of billions to build out AI data centers, pushing its free cash flow lower.

The first situation is unlikely to have a real impact on Microsoft's software business. Microsoft's suite is a workplace standard. An enterprise moving away from it would incur significant switching costs and interoperability challenges that are probably not worth any cost savings on the software itself.

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The second challenge is more real, but the risks may be overblown. Microsoft is investing in AI compute capacity with highly predictable returns on investment thanks to long-term contracts with several customers. Microsoft ended last quarter with $678 billion in contracted revenue across Azure and its software business.

The risk that it will spend too much on compute is unlikely to materialize, especially given that Microsoft uses Azure compute capacity for its own AI development. Further mitigating that risk is management's commitment to maintain positive free cash flow.

Over the long run, Microsoft should be a net beneficiary of increased spending on AI for both compute used by developers and software used by enterprises. That should lead to sustained earnings growth around that 20% target rate. If Microsoft maintains its earnings multiple, the stock will climb at the same pace. That's not quite as fast as the first 12 years of Nadella's tenure, but it's close enough to make it a great investment.

President Trump summoned the world’s most powerful technology executives to the White House on Tuesday, and praised the assembled billionaires as “very brilliant” minds who wanted to make the world a better place through job creation, the construction of data centers and the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence.

As president, Mr. Trump faces questions about whether A.I. should be regulated, and particularly whether restrictions should be put in place to protect humans from technology that has learned to outmaneuver existing safeguards.

But in the end, convening all of those billions and all of that brain power did not result in a commitment to formal regulation. Instead, they signed a voluntary agreement to adopt safety policies that include risk reviews, auditing and evaluations of systems by third parties. They also agreed to adopt Mr. Trump’s preferred rebranding of A.I.: “super intelligence.”

“This is going to be all for the good, and we’re going to have it be nice and safe,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday afternoon, when he and the tech leaders took questions outside the White House. “And they’re really going to be policing each other, and that’s the way it works.”

Asked if the agreement would be binding, Mr. Trump said, “I think it’s morally binding.”

Inside the White House luncheon, Mr. Trump’s seating chart (which he posted on social media) revealed a powerful assemblage of executives who are deeply divided on the need for A.I. safeguards. The meeting also included top officials, such as Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President JD Vance, who believe that formalized safeguards would hurt American competitiveness.

In the middle of it all was Mr. Trump, who has punted to a group of executives to decide how best to wrangle the rapidly evolving technology, or whether it should be wrangled at all.

“There’s going to be a tremendous self-policing aspect,” Mr. Trump said.

The one-page document is short on details and relies on the companies to follow through with their promises. It is not an official order, and it is unclear who would enforce the guidance. It was signed by Mr. Trump and the leaders of Anthropic, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI and SpaceXAI.

The agreement echoes voluntary safety commitments by A.I. companies made during the Biden administration. The companies agreed to test their systems for safety and to report safety and security incidents. But the commitments were nonbinding and largely lost at the start of the Trump administration, when the president rolled back safety requirements.

The business leaders invited to the White House on Tuesday included Dario Amodei, the chief executive of Anthropic, who has called for federal safety regulations, including the testing of models. Earlier this month, Mr. Amodei called for an industrywide slowdown of A.I. development, citing safety concerns.

The company has also been embroiled in a legal fight with the administration, and has been barred from working with the Pentagon. The two sides disagreed in negotiations over a $200 million contract, with the company’s insisting that its A.I. technology not be used in mass surveillance of Americans or for autonomous lethal weapons. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mr. Trump called Mr. Amodei “fantastic.”

Also on the guest list was Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia and a close Trump ally, who has called the safety concerns exaggerated. Mr. Huang has implored the administration and lawmakers to keep a hands-off approach to regulating the industry, saying rules would allow rival China to speed past the United States on A.I. leadership.

When the group appeared with reporters, the president called Mr. Huang a “very handsome guy” and asked him to speak.

“We’re going to advance this technology that is so consequential to humanity, so consequential to the future prosperity of our nation,” Mr. Huang told reporters. “We’re going to do it responsibly and safely.”

Others invited to the luncheon included Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon; Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI; Alex Karp, the chief executive of Palantir; Sundar Pichai of Google; Mark Zuckerberg of Meta; and Elon Musk of SpaceXAI. The White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were there. David Sacks, Mr. Trump’s former top adviser on A.I. and a venture capitalist, also attended.

Before the luncheon, Mr. Trump told the audience at an event unveiling America.gov, an A.I.-powered search tool, that the U.S. government was championing the technology in an effort to counter China, a major rival in the race to develop A.I.

“We don’t want to stifle growth,” the president said.

Mr. Trump, who hosted a state visit last week for Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, said that the two did not spend much time discussing opportunities for partnerships or issues related to competition. Mr. Xi said in remarks at the White House that both nations shared the responsibility to develop A.I. with “the well-being of the people” in mind.

But in front of a crowd of executives and cabinet members, who were gathered in an auditorium for a presentation that took on the veneer of an Apple product-launch event, the president reiterated a winner-take-all mentality.

“You’re going to have a winner, or you’re going to have a loser,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump has pushed the United States to seek A.I. supremacy over China. — Doug Mills/The New York Times
Mr. Trump has argued that American dominance over A.I. technology is imperative for national security and economic growth.

With his embrace of A.I. and support for the development of data centers throughout the country, Mr. Trump is also increasingly out of step with the public. Recent polling shows that a majority of Americans are growing more concerned about A.I. and want the federal government to do more to regulate the technology.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump again came down on the side of data centers, calling concerns about them a Democratic hoax. Flanked by executives at the luncheon, Mr. Trump predicted that the public would eventually embrace the facilities.

“You’re going to see data centers are going to be very popular, because this is the group, and they’re the ones that want to, and they’re also the ones that want to see communities that are safe and happy,” Mr. Trump said. “Otherwise, they’ll be forced to go overseas or other locations.”

Mr. Trump with leaders of major tech companies including Meta, Nvidia, SpaceXAI and Google. — Doug Mills/The New York Times
As the public has soured on A.I. and the prospect of data centers mushrooming around the country, the debate over technology safety has intensified in recent weeks. Several rogue A.I. clients and models have worked together to breach websites, steal data and then cover their tracks, all while appearing to show an understanding that what they were doing was wrong. Senior leaders in Congress have acknowledged the need for A.I. safety guardrails.

In April, Anthropic announced it was holding back the release of one of its models, Mythos, because it was too dangerous for the public. In July, OpenAI models broke out of a restricted testing environment and hacked the A.I. start-up Hugging Face. In early September, leaders of Anthropic, OpenAI and Google DeepMind called for slowing development of advanced A.I. models.

Last week, an OpenAI model was found to have meddled with U.S. government websites including the Education Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commerce Department’s census site. And this week, OpenAI said it would not release its latest model, GPT-6.1 Astra, over safety concerns.

Within the White House, senior leaders are at odds on how to regulate the industry. Mr. Bessent has floated the idea of an open dialogue with China on safety standards. He has also stressed that A.I. companies must be held accountable for harms created by their models.

Dina Powell McCormick, the president and vice chairman of Meta, center, was in attendance at the event on Tuesday. — Doug Mills/The New York Times
As his day with the billionaires wrapped up on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said that he was considering a committee of about 10 people focused on A.I. safety, and that he would name an A.I. czar in the coming days.

He ended his final appearance with reporters alongside Mr. Musk, another attendee who has worked himself back into Mr. Trump’s good graces after a spat last year over domestic policy legislation. He was seated near Mr. Xi and Mr. Trump at last week’s state dinner, and was at Mr. Trump’s side at the luncheon on Tuesday.

Mr. Xi, the president said, “will take every data center that we don’t want.”

Standing nearby, Mr. Musk agreed.

“He would love that, every single one, because you know why? They’re smart,” Mr. Trump continued. “They want every data center. They want it because that’s great for China. Well, it’s great for us, and we’re leading by a lot, and we're going to keep it that way.”

SummaryMicrosoft Corporation remains a Strong Buy as in-house AI models drive up to 89% GPU cost savings, supporting robust margins despite surging capex.Cloud gross margin held at 65% in the June quarter, and the 8% dividend raise appears sustainable, with free cash flow covering the payout more than twice over.Copilot's shift to usage-based pricing, launching Nov. 2 for small businesses, positions MSFT to capture incremental revenue and profit as adoption scales.A $329B backlog of unstarted data center leases introduces long-term risk for MSFT shareholders, but current demand and cost efficiencies justify maintaining the bullish stance. tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images

Back in late July, I kept my Strong Buy on Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) after a record $90 billion quarter sent the stock up about 8%, mostly because a $678 billion backlog outweighed a

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of MSFT either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Key Takeaways Microsoft's Copilot adoption is accelerating, with paid seats topping 30 million in fiscal 2026.Microsoft expects Azure growth of roughly 45% and first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue growth of 16-17%.Microsoft projects capex above $50B, while credit-based pricing may make Copilot revenues less predictable. Microsoft's (MSFT - Free Report) enterprise AI push gathered pace in September 2026 with the launch of a reimagined Copilot built around Home, Code and Autopilot. Home brings chat and delegated work together, Code lets non-developers build secure apps and automations in natural language, and Autopilot works as a persistent agent that keeps tasks moving while users are offline. Home and Code are rolling out to Frontier program participants, while Autopilot is expanding in private preview. Microsoft also outlined a hybrid pricing model that keeps per-user pricing for everyday AI and moves advanced capabilities to consumption-based Copilot Credits. Earlier in September, Copilot Studio made its GitHub Copilot harness generally available for reasoning-heavy agents.

These launches build on solid adoption. Microsoft 365 Copilot paid seats topped 30 million in fourth-quarter fiscal 2026, with net seat additions more than doubling sequentially. Agent 365 registered nearly 40 million agents within two months of launch, while Foundry revenues more than doubled year over year. Commercial remaining performance obligation surged 84% year over year to $678 billion.

Guidance signals sustained momentum. For first-quarter fiscal 2027, Microsoft expects revenues of $89.85-$90.95 billion, implying 16-17% growth. Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud revenues are projected to grow about 16% in constant currency, while Azure is expected to grow roughly 45%. Intelligent Cloud revenues are forecast at $40.95-$41.25 billion, up 33-34%.

However, scaling enterprise AI remains costly. Cost of revenues is expected to rise 23-24% in the fiscal first quarter, keeping operating margins roughly flat year over year, while capital expenditures are projected to exceed $50 billion. For fiscal 2027, Microsoft expects operating margins to decline by less than one point as capex keeps rising. The shift toward credit-based pricing could also make Copilot revenues less predictable in the near term. Whether adoption gains outpace infrastructure spending will determine how much upside remains.

How MSFT Compares With CRM and GOOGL in Enterprise AIMicrosoft faces stiff competition in enterprise AI from Salesforce (CRM - Free Report) and Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) . Salesforce is gaining traction with Agentforce, whose annual recurring revenue topped $1.5 billion in second-quarter fiscal 2027, up more than 240% year over year. However, Salesforce expects fiscal 2027 revenues to grow only 11-12%, including an Informatica contribution. Salesforce's agentic push remains largely tied to its CRM base. Alphabet is scaling Gemini Enterprise, now used by nearly 90% of Fortune 100 companies. Alphabet's Google Cloud backlog reached $514 billion in the second quarter of 2026, though Alphabet does not disclose paid Gemini Enterprise seats, unlike Microsoft's Copilot.

MSFT’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesMSFT shares have returned 4.3% in the year-to-date (YTD) period against the Zacks Computer – Software industry’s decline of 4.5%. The Zacks Computer and Technology sector has appreciated 21.3% 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 trailing 12-month price/earnings ratio of 29.47X, higher than the industry’s 27.31X. 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 $19.62 per share. The estimate indicates 9.3% 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.

Bank of America just flagged a Meta shopping agent that could quietly drain the most profitable part of Apple's business, and the gap between Apple's stock drop and the broader tech market suggests investors are taking the warning seriously.

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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) stock is at $331.08, down 2%, after Bank of America warned that a shopping agent from Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) could pull online commerce activity away from the iPhone ecosystem. Meta Platforms stock is at $718.53, up 0.4%, a modest gain for the developer of the agent behind the warning.

Technology funds are barely moving by comparison, which makes the drop in Apple stock look company-specific. The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLK) is down 0.1%, and the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) is down 0.1%, leaving Apple stock falling further than either fund.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) stock is at $339.51, down 0.9%, a softer decline than the one hitting Apple stock. Meanwhile, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock is at $507.91, down 0.3%, the smallest move among the four mega-caps.

Bank of America Flags Meta’s Muse Agent Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan warned that artificial intelligence agents could shift online shopping activity away from Apple’s ecosystem. The concern centers on Muse, a Meta Platforms agent that browses sites, completes forms and continues tasks after a user leaves the app. Muse has gained access to commerce services from Shopify, Expedia and PayPal, though Amazon has blocked the Meta Platforms agent.

Mohan stated that Apple could keep control of device sales while losing part of the digital activity around product discovery, referrals and transactions. The analyst added that Apple’s updated Siri, built on Apple Foundation Models and Private Cloud Compute, currently lacks some of Muse’s background task capabilities and broader third-party actions. Even so, Bank of America kept its Buy rating on Apple, citing the company’s large installed base, user trust and privacy-focused technology as strengths.

Why Apple Carries the Most Exposure Apple sits closest to the risk Mohan described, because the discovery, referral and transaction activity around its devices feeds the company’s high-margin services business. Alphabet’s search business lies along the same product discovery path that agents like Muse aim to bypass, which could help explain the softer trade in Alphabet stock. Microsoft, by contrast, leans on enterprise cloud and software, leaving the company less directly exposed to a consumer shopping agent.

Bloomberg News reported the plan. Apple chief executive John Ternus, the former hardware chief who succeeded Tim Cook, is planning a structural overhaul aimed at faster product development and a leaner organization. The company’s plan involves removing layers of middle management and moving away from fixed spring and fall launch cycles toward a more fluid release schedule. Apple is pursuing new revenue streams under the overhaul as growth in its services business slows, according to the report.

What to Watch Next The distance between Apple stock and both technology funds points to a reaction aimed directly at the company, and shareholders may want to watch for any Apple update on Siri background tasks or third-party actions, since those are the gaps Mohan singled out. Any sign of new agent features from Apple could shift the debate faster than the reorganization itself.

For investors who already own Apple stock, a single research note may be reason to revisit their exposure before adding to it. Meta Platforms stock carries its own risk despite the gain, since Amazon’s decision to block Muse shows that access to major commerce platforms isn’t guaranteed.

Traders should size their positions with that uncertainty in mind. For those already invested in Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Microsoft, Apple’s next earnings report could offer the best read yet on how its services business are holding up.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Azure is accelerating past 40% growth, Copilot seats are doubling quarter over quarter, and a commercial backlog approaching $700 billion sits waiting to convert. Whether those engines can actually lift Microsoft back above its all-time high depends on a few…

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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) closed at $516.17 on September 25. The 24/7 price target is at $628.87 over 12 months, meaning 21.83% upside with a buy rating and high confidence.

24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $516.17 Price Target from 24/7 Wall St. $628.87 Upside/Downside 21.83% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% Microsoft has several growth drivers running together. Azure is growing at a rate above 40%, Copilot seat growth is speeding up, and the company is carrying a $678 billion commercial backlog. Each one adds to the base case.

Microsoft Is Back Within 6% of Its 52-Week High After a Record Year Shares gained 4.53% over the past week and 7.41% year to date. The stock trades about 6% below its $549.20 52-week high. Microsoft also announced a quarterly dividend increase on September 15.

Fiscal Q4 revenue came in at $90.01 billion, up 17.75%. That was ahead of the $87.63 billion estimate. EPS of $4.74 beat expectations of $4.2394, though a $3.2 billion Anthropic gain helped the number.

Why Bulls See $729 Within Reach Azure grew 43% and passed $100 billion in annual revenue. Management’s fiscal Q1 guidance calls for about 45% growth in constant currency. Microsoft 365 Copilot now has more than 30 million paid seats, and net seat additions more than doubled quarter over quarter. GitHub Copilot has 50 million users. Management said “demand continues to exceed available supply.”

Wall Street is overwhelmingly positive, as 14 Strong Buy, 38 Buy and 3 Hold ratings show. If Azure keeps accelerating, our bull case hits $729.29.

What Could Stall Microsoft’s Rally Fiscal 2026 capex rose 79.62% to $115.948 billion, and free cash flow fell 6.46%. More Personal Computing revenue slipped 4%, and Xbox dropped 10%.

Operating cash flow rose 34.35%. CFO Amy Hood noted Microsoft can “slow down” GPU and CPU spending if demand cools. In our bear case, shares hits $534.31, still above today’s price.

How Microsoft Compares to Alphabet and Amazon Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) competes via Google Cloud at 23x forward earnings with 24.2% revenue growth.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) runs AWS at 24x with 19.6% revenue growth. Microsoft trades at a premium but commands much higher margins, justifying the valuation.

Company Forward P/E Operating Margin Microsoft 25 45.1% Alphabet 23 34% Amazon 24 13.7% Our 24/7 Wall St. price target looks reasonable and not extended against these peers.

Microsoft Earns a BUY Rating at These Levels Microsoft earns a buy rating with high confidence at our 24/7 price target of $628.87. The backlog is critical: about 30% of RPO converts to revenue within 12 months.

Stay positive as long as Azure grows above 40%. Grow cautious if capex keeps rising while free cash flow falls. For now, growth outlook justifies the valuation.

Here is where our model sees Microsoft trading in the coming years, assuming its current growth trend holds.

Year Price Target from 24/7 Wall St. 2026 $532.20 2027 $660.31 2028 $735.15 2029 $829.12 2030 $881.23 These projections assume Microsoft keeps performing as it has been. Actual results could come in well above or below them depending on how quickly Copilot is monetized and what AI infrastructure ends up returning. All that hyperscaler capex has to flow to power, cooling, and networking suppliers too, and we highlighted seven of them in a free AI infrastructure report.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- #AIAgents--Trust3 AI extends row and column-level access policies from Databricks and Snowflake into Microsoft OneLake Security for autonomous AI agents.

Retirement Planning Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,831 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,179 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.5% of Retirement Planning Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Retirement Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Donaldson Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the second quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 286,452 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $106,852,000 after purchasing an additional 9,111 shares in the last quarter. Innovative Asset Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Innovative Asset Advisors Group LLC now owns 18,452 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,883,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 49.8% in the 2nd quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 33,820 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,616,000 after purchasing an additional 11,242 shares in the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 90,145 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $33,626,000 after buying an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthStar Asset Management LLC NJ boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. NorthStar Asset Management LLC NJ now owns 7,913 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,952,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3% Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $509.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $480.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $427.02. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. 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 issued its 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 firm 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 revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Microsoft Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $569.29.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot experience featuring integrated Office tools, Chat, Cowork and Autopilot capabilities. Jefferies said the products create potential usage-based revenue streams, while analysts expect enterprise adoption to build gradually. Microsoft’s Autopilot opens new AI revenue path Positive Sentiment: The Copilot overhaul is positioned as a stronger competitive response to Anthropic’s Claude. Microsoft also added GitHub’s coding engine to Copilot, allowing office workers to create applications and dashboards using natural-language instructions, potentially expanding paid AI usage. Microsoft puts GitHub coding engine inside Copilot Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reaffirmed its Buy rating, and William Blair maintained a bullish view based on Copilot monetization potential and Microsoft’s expanding enterprise AI platform. Azure’s reported scale and backlog also support the long-term investment case. Microsoft Buy rating backed by Copilot monetization Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is extending AI partnerships, including a Nokia collaboration that combines Nokia’s telecommunications data with Microsoft Fabric for AI-driven network operations. The opportunity could broaden cloud demand, although financial benefits are not yet quantified. Nokia and Microsoft expand their AI reach Neutral Sentiment: TTEC Digital’s 11th consecutive Microsoft AI Business Solutions Inner Circle award highlights the strength of Microsoft’s partner ecosystem, but the recognition is not expected to materially affect near-term revenue. TTEC Digital earns Microsoft AI award Negative Sentiment: Reported AI usage shows a sizable regional gap—28.8% in the Global North versus 16.2% in the Global South—raising questions about the pace and breadth of Copilot adoption. Microsoft AI adoption gap Negative Sentiment: Meta is moving deeper into enterprise software, creating another competitive threat to Microsoft’s productivity, cloud and AI offerings. Meanwhile, additional layoffs and restructuring may reinforce concerns about execution and workforce disruption. Meta puts Microsoft on notice Negative Sentiment: Plans to more than triple data-center capacity by 2032 could support Azure growth but require enormous capital investment, increasing pressure to convert AI demand into cash flow and profits. Investor questions about AI subsidies and regulation add further uncertainty. Microsoft data center expansion Insider Activity at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at $265,888,830.48. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Microsoft (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Six Flags Launches FlexPay—Is There Any FUN Left in the Stock? Brewing Trouble? Starbucks Spills the Beans on 250 Store Closures Stitch Fix Stock Plunges as Guidance Puts the Turnaround on Pause Harley-Davidson Insiders Are Buying: Is HOG Finally Turning Around? 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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Summit Global Investments lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 9.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,302 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,984 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.9% of Summit Global Investments’ holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in Microsoft by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,862,000 after buying an additional 9,814,598 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Microsoft by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,852,884,000 after buying an additional 2,784,809 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,235,785,000 after buying an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Microsoft by 64.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,982,083,000 after buying an additional 9,493,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $569.29.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT Key Stories Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot experience featuring integrated Office tools, Chat, Cowork and Autopilot capabilities. Jefferies said the products create potential usage-based revenue streams, while analysts expect enterprise adoption to build gradually. Microsoft’s Autopilot opens new AI revenue path Positive Sentiment: The Copilot overhaul is positioned as a stronger competitive response to Anthropic’s Claude. Microsoft also added GitHub’s coding engine to Copilot, allowing office workers to create applications and dashboards using natural-language instructions, potentially expanding paid AI usage. Microsoft puts GitHub coding engine inside Copilot Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reaffirmed its Buy rating, and William Blair maintained a bullish view based on Copilot monetization potential and Microsoft’s expanding enterprise AI platform. Azure’s reported scale and backlog also support the long-term investment case. Microsoft Buy rating backed by Copilot monetization Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is extending AI partnerships, including a Nokia collaboration that combines Nokia’s telecommunications data with Microsoft Fabric for AI-driven network operations. The opportunity could broaden cloud demand, although financial benefits are not yet quantified. Nokia and Microsoft expand their AI reach Neutral Sentiment: TTEC Digital’s 11th consecutive Microsoft AI Business Solutions Inner Circle award highlights the strength of Microsoft’s partner ecosystem, but the recognition is not expected to materially affect near-term revenue. TTEC Digital earns Microsoft AI award Negative Sentiment: Reported AI usage shows a sizable regional gap—28.8% in the Global North versus 16.2% in the Global South—raising questions about the pace and breadth of Copilot adoption. Microsoft AI adoption gap Negative Sentiment: Meta is moving deeper into enterprise software, creating another competitive threat to Microsoft’s productivity, cloud and AI offerings. Meanwhile, additional layoffs and restructuring may reinforce concerns about execution and workforce disruption. Meta puts Microsoft on notice Negative Sentiment: Plans to more than triple data-center capacity by 2032 could support Azure growth but require enormous capital investment, increasing pressure to convert AI demand into cash flow and profits. Investor questions about AI subsidies and regulation add further uncertainty. Microsoft data center expansion Microsoft Trading Down 1.3% Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $509.22 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year 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 $3.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $480.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $427.02.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company 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 for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% 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. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% 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. Insiders sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Six Flags Launches FlexPay—Is There Any FUN Left in the Stock? Brewing Trouble? Starbucks Spills the Beans on 250 Store Closures Stitch Fix Stock Plunges as Guidance Puts the Turnaround on Pause Harley-Davidson Insiders Are Buying: Is HOG Finally Turning Around? 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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Stack Financial Management Inc grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 187,635 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,560 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.5% of Stack Financial Management Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Stack Financial Management Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $69,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $101,000. Finally, Ramsey Quantitative Systems bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $112,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.3% NASDAQ MSFT opened at $509.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. 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 current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business’s fifty day moving average is $480.07 and its 200-day moving average is $427.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current year. Microsoft Increases Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, September 21st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $569.29.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT

Insider Transactions at Microsoft In related news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot experience featuring integrated Office tools, Chat, Cowork and Autopilot capabilities. Jefferies said the products create potential usage-based revenue streams, while analysts expect enterprise adoption to build gradually. Microsoft’s Autopilot opens new AI revenue path Positive Sentiment: The Copilot overhaul is positioned as a stronger competitive response to Anthropic’s Claude. Microsoft also added GitHub’s coding engine to Copilot, allowing office workers to create applications and dashboards using natural-language instructions, potentially expanding paid AI usage. Microsoft puts GitHub coding engine inside Copilot Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reaffirmed its Buy rating, and William Blair maintained a bullish view based on Copilot monetization potential and Microsoft’s expanding enterprise AI platform. Azure’s reported scale and backlog also support the long-term investment case. Microsoft Buy rating backed by Copilot monetization Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is extending AI partnerships, including a Nokia collaboration that combines Nokia’s telecommunications data with Microsoft Fabric for AI-driven network operations. The opportunity could broaden cloud demand, although financial benefits are not yet quantified. Nokia and Microsoft expand their AI reach Neutral Sentiment: TTEC Digital’s 11th consecutive Microsoft AI Business Solutions Inner Circle award highlights the strength of Microsoft’s partner ecosystem, but the recognition is not expected to materially affect near-term revenue. TTEC Digital earns Microsoft AI award Negative Sentiment: Reported AI usage shows a sizable regional gap—28.8% in the Global North versus 16.2% in the Global South—raising questions about the pace and breadth of Copilot adoption. Microsoft AI adoption gap Negative Sentiment: Meta is moving deeper into enterprise software, creating another competitive threat to Microsoft’s productivity, cloud and AI offerings. Meanwhile, additional layoffs and restructuring may reinforce concerns about execution and workforce disruption. Meta puts Microsoft on notice Negative Sentiment: Plans to more than triple data-center capacity by 2032 could support Azure growth but require enormous capital investment, increasing pressure to convert AI demand into cash flow and profits. Investor questions about AI subsidies and regulation add further uncertainty. Microsoft data center expansion Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

Recommended Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Six Flags Launches FlexPay—Is There Any FUN Left in the Stock? Brewing Trouble? Starbucks Spills the Beans on 250 Store Closures Stitch Fix Stock Plunges as Guidance Puts the Turnaround on Pause Harley-Davidson Insiders Are Buying: Is HOG Finally Turning Around? 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).

Receive News & Ratings for Microsoft Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Microsoft and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

Microsoft (MSFT -0.64%) is selling its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant for office work faster than ever. The company said it finished June with more than 30 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats, up from over 20 million three months before. In one quarter, it gained around 10 million paid seats.

And on Sept. 25, Microsoft announced a rebuilt Copilot app with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint inside it.

I think Microsoft will report at least 60 million paid Copilot seats by the end of June 2027, doubling the number in a year. Getting there would take a slower pace of seat additions than the one Microsoft just posted.

Image source: Microsoft Corporation.

Seat additions are speeding upHighlighting how fast adoption has picked up, Microsoft's paid Copilot seat count was 15 million as of December. By March it crossed 20 million, and seat additions in the quarter grew 250% year over year, CEO Satya Nadella said in April. And by June, the total passed 30 million. So the company added around 5 million seats in its fiscal third quarter. It then added about 10 million -- more than double that -- in its fiscal fourth quarter of 2026 (the quarter that ended June 30, 2026).

To go from 30 million to 60 million in the next four quarters, Microsoft needs around 7.5 million net new seats a quarter. That rate is around 25% under what it managed in the June quarter.

The deals behind these numbers are getting bigger, too. The number of customers with more than 50,000 seats climbed more than sevenfold year over year, Nadella said on the July earnings call, and HSBC alone committed to 200,000 seats.

How much room is left?Microsoft had more than 450 million paid Microsoft 365 commercial seats as of December, a base that's been growing around 6% a year. So 30 million Copilot seats cover only about 7% of it.

Even at 60 million, Copilot would reach only around one in eight paid Microsoft 365 commercial users.

Microsoft is also bundling Copilot into a bigger software package. Its Microsoft 365 E7 suite, available since May 1, combines Copilot with the company's E5 offering and Agent 365, a tool to manage AI agents.

The Sept. 25 revamp might help too. With Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in the Copilot app, Microsoft seems to want people to start their work in Copilot instead of treating it as an add-on.

Of course, the new setup is rolling out first through Microsoft's Frontier early-access program in the coming weeks, and any impact on seat sales may take time to show up.

Copilot is already boosting revenue per userMicrosoft 365 commercial cloud revenue rose 17% year over year in fiscal 2026 (the 12 months ended June 30), but paid Microsoft 365 commercial seats grew just 6%. Microsoft's annual report credits the growth in revenue per user to Microsoft 365 Copilot and its E5 offering. Across products and cloud services, the Microsoft 365 commercial business took in around $102 billion for the year, up 16%. And for the September quarter, management guided in July for Microsoft 365 commercial cloud revenue to climb about 16% in constant currency, adjusting for an unusual prior-year comparison (about 18% after Microsoft shifted GitHub and Security Copilot revenue to that line in September).

"[W]e expect to see acceleration in M365 Commercial cloud revenue growth through this fiscal year," said Amy Hood, Microsoft's chief financial officer, on the July call.

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But Copilot isn't free to run. Cost of revenue in the productivity and business processes segment, home to Microsoft 365, rose 12% in fiscal 2026 on AI infrastructure for Copilot's seat and usage growth, while the segment's operating income still climbed 20%.

The seat growth is one reason I think Microsoft's business is healthy. Microsoft stock, at around $516 as of this writing, costs about 29 times fiscal 2026 earnings, versus about 26 times earnings for the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.04%).

This valuation arguably reflects a lot of AI success already.

Ultimately, I think 60 million paid seats by the end of June 2027 is a reasonable call, because Microsoft only has to add them more slowly than it just did. But it's a prediction. A soft quarter or two might delay the milestone a few months.

In the latest trading session, Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) closed at $509.68, marking a -1.26% move from the previous day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.77%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.67%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.92%.

Shares of the software maker have appreciated by 0.51% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 6.26%, and the S&P 500's gain of 0.96%.

The upcoming earnings release of Microsoft will be of great interest to investors. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $4.69, marking a 13.56% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $90.6 billion, indicating a 16.65% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $19.62 per share and a revenue of $389.42 billion, representing changes of +9.3% and +17.35%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Microsoft. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.03% increase. Microsoft is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Microsoft is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 26.31. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 16.23, so one might conclude that Microsoft is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that MSFT has a PEG ratio of 1.66. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Computer - Software industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.51.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 85, placing it within the top 35% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.

Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) has opened new ways to earn usage-based revenue with its latest Copilot tools, according to analysts at Jefferies, although the broker expects enterprise adoption to build gradually.

The launch includes Home, a unified starting point for Chat and Cowork that integrates Office tools and lets users create and refine files within conversations.

Cowork handles delegated, end-to-end tasks, while the new Autopilot extends that model into persistent, recurring execution, including monitoring channels and following up on threads.

Alongside those capabilities, Code uses GitHub Copilot technology to let users, including non-developers, build applications, dashboards and workflows through natural language prompts.

Under the pricing model, simple AI tasks remain covered by user subscriptions, while all advanced AI tasks completed by Cowork, Code and Autopilot incur usage-based charges.

Jefferies wrote that Home's Office integration improves the user experience, while Cowork, Code and Autopilot expand the types, duration and complexity of work Microsoft can monetize.

Those agentic workflows could raise Microsoft 365's long-term average revenue per user ceiling, Jefferies wrote, while Copilot seats remain the primary near-term growth driver.

Turning that opportunity into meaningful consumption will take time, Jefferies wrote, as enterprises scrutinize AI budgets and restrict usage to workflows delivering clear returns on investment.

With that adoption constraint in view, the broker still considers the shares' risk-reward balance favorable, highlighting a valuation below Microsoft's historical average.

Jefferies wrote that accelerating cloud growth, expanding AI monetization, strong margins, cash generation, and recurring revenue leave room for the stock to command a higher valuation.

The broker has a Buy rating on the stock.

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Microsoft and Alphabet are both burning through record AI capex, but their strategies for turning that spending into profit look nothing alike, and only one of them is keeping cash flow positive right now.

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reported in July 2026 with record AI data center spending. The question now is which monetizes that capex faster. Both have outpaced other hyperscalers so far, but through different ways.

Copilot Seats Carry Microsoft as Google Cloud Hits Overdrive Microsoft’s fiscal Q4 revenue rose 17.8% to $90.01 billion. Azure grew 43% and passed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time. Nearly 90% of Microsoft Cloud revenue came from customers other than frontier model labs. Microsoft 365 Copilot exceeded 30 million paid seats. Amy Hood said “demand continues to exceed available supply.”

Alphabet grew revenue 24.2% to $119.80 billion. Google Cloud sped up to 82% growth on $24.77 billion, well ahead of Azure. Search rose 17% as AI features lifted queries. Sundar Pichai said “nearly 90% of the Fortune 100” use Gemini Enterprise.

Driver Microsoft Alphabet Cloud Growth Azure +43% Google Cloud +82% Quarterly Capex $35.80B $44.92B Free Cash Flow $19.64B -$5.86B Backlog $678B commercial RPO Over $460B cloud backlog (Q1) Microsoft Rents the Toolkit While Google Owns Every Layer Microsoft charges per seat plus usage. GitHub Copilot revenue grew over 60% after a June pricing change. Azure hosts more than 11,000 models, so Microsoft gets paid regardless of which model customers pick. Hood noted that most capex goes to short-lived chips: “If the demand environment changes, you just slow down what is, in fact, the largest component.”

Alphabet owns the full stack: TPUs, Gemini, Search and YouTube. Capex hit $44.92 billion and free cash flow fell to -$5.86 billion. Alphabet raised roughly $70 billion in equity and debt and suspended buybacks. Google wooed AI startups early, leaving Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) “asleep at the wheel a little bit.” Leaning on outside money to fund that lead raises concerns.

Azure’s 45% Guide and Google’s Cash Gap Set Up the Next Test Microsoft guided Azure to about 45% constant-currency growth for fiscal Q1. It expects to stay free-cash-flow positive while spending roughly $175 billion on capex in fiscal 2027. Alphabet guided 2026 capex to $175 billion to $185 billion. The focus is whether its cloud backlog of over $460 billion turns into revenue fast enough to make cash flow positive again.

Why I Lean Toward Microsoft for Capex Efficiency Alphabet trades near 15 times earnings versus 29 for Microsoft. A $99 billion unrealized equity gain boosts Alphabet’s earnings. Shares rose 40.29% over the past year, against 2.64% for Microsoft. The market has already rewarded Google’s cloud surge.

Microsoft converts capex to cash more efficiently. It produced $19.64 billion free cash flow on $35.80 billion capex and has a $678 billion commercial backlog. Growth investors comfortable with debt-funded expansion may prefer Alphabet. Reconsider if Google returns to positive free cash flow while cloud growth holds.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

OSLO, Norway--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Neat, an industry leading AI-native hardware and software platform for workplace collaboration, today announced that Neat Board 32, Neat Pad Pro, and Neat Pad Generation 2 have officially received Microsoft Teams certification. The achievement marks a major milestone in Neat's collaboration with Microsoft, unlocking new deployment opportunities for enterprise customers seeking secure, high-performance meeting room experiences. Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform i.

Timonier Family Office LTD. purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,834 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $684,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.2% of Timonier Family Office LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hardworking Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 4.0% during the second quarter. Hardworking Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,995 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,863,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,435 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,980,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 153,883 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,400,000 after purchasing an additional 3,355 shares in the last quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 11.3% in the second quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 8,054 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,004,000 after buying an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turn8 Private Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter. Turn8 Private Wealth Inc. now owns 22,110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,247,000 after acquiring an additional 3,708 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, August 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $569.29.

View Our Latest Research Report on MSFT Microsoft Stock Performance NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $516.17 on Monday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $477.93 and a 200-day moving average of $426.29. The company has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72.

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 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Key Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot “super app” that combines access to Office applications with coding tools, autonomous AI agents and an Autopilot feature. The initiative is aimed primarily at business users and could improve enterprise adoption, usage and monetization of Microsoft’s AI offerings. Reuters article Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer raised its Microsoft price target to $570, citing the company’s shift toward enterprise AI agents and a billing model tied more closely to customer usage. Other recent analyst targets have also moved higher, reinforcing expectations for sustained Azure and AI growth. Oppenheimer target article Positive Sentiment: Investors appear more confident that Microsoft can benefit from AI without depending on a single large-model provider. Its Azure cloud platform, Microsoft 365 ecosystem and enterprise distribution provide multiple avenues for converting AI investment into recurring revenue. MarketWatch article Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy bullish options activity, including a large call spread, suggests traders are positioning for additional upside. Technical analysts identified a potential move toward approximately $555, although this is market positioning rather than a fundamental forecast. Barchart options article Neutral Sentiment: Broader market gains, led by AI stocks, provided an additional tailwind. However, elevated oil prices, Treasury yields and uncertainty over potential Federal Reserve policy changes remain important macroeconomic risks. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is moving away from a consumer-focused personal-assistant strategy and concentrating Copilot on workplace use. The usage-based approach could unlock greater revenue, but it may also make sales less predictable than traditional subscriptions if customer adoption is slower than expected. Financial Post article Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to monitor Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending, data-center capacity constraints and a reported 277-job reduction in Washington. These factors could pressure near-term margins even as Azure demand remains strong. Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Data Centers Got the AI Hype—But Office REITs May Get the Rent Hikes 2 Cybersecurity Stocks Breaking Out as AI Continues to Be a Tailwind 3 More AI Infrastructure Plays Beyond the Big Names CAVA Stock Slips: Sector Fear or Valuation Reality?

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Senate Democrats are seeking information on how artificial intelligence and data center spending by Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft has been subsidized by tax breaks authorized in the 2025 tax cutting and spending package passed by Republicans at the behest of President Donald Trump.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led the letters, which were sent Sunday night and shared exclusively with CNBC, to the CEOs of the four companies asking for information on tax deductions they've claimed related to AI and data center development and on their lobbying efforts in the lead-up to the passage of the 2025 legislation, known more commonly as the "one big beautiful bill" act.

Sens. Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., joined the letters.

"Americans across the country are worried about the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on their lives —from increased utility bills to threats of job losses and cyberattacks," the lawmakers wrote in the letters. "But rather than meaningfully regulate Big Tech companies and slow down the mad rush to deploy this new technology, Republicans in Washington have passed tax subsidies for AI development and AI data centers."

Spokespeople for all four companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The probe comes as Washington grapples with how to deal with AI and data center development, as public backlash has become increasingly intense heading into the 2026 midterm election.

Democrats are hoping to win back a majority in the House and Senate — though Republicans are still favored in most projections to retain the upper chamber — and have tried to distinguish themselves as the more pro-regulation party.

Democratic 2028 presidential hopefuls like California Gov. Gavin Newsom have made statements and issued executive orders. And Democratic congressional candidates — including state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, and Sherrod Brown, the Democrat running for Senate in Ohio — have hit at their GOP opponents for their past support of data centers.

Republicans, meanwhile, have called out Senate Democrats for blocking the quick passage of legislation that would create a framework states could choose to adopt to address rising data center-related utility costs. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., blocked the legislation because he said it didn't go far enough to protect consumers. The measure, dubbed the Ratepayer Protection Act, may be taken up by the Senate again this week.

Warren has previously called for increased taxes on AI and data center developers and investigated ties between private equity and data centers.

Her letter on Monday follows reporting that corporate tax payments are falling this year amid rising revenue, as tech companies make use of AI tax incentives. Corporate tax payments are down 25 percent this year, according to Warren's letter, which cites Politico's reporting quoting budget forecasters. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in February projected that the federal government would collect 10.6% less in corporate income tax in 2026 compared with a year earlier, with the total projected to fall from $452 billion to $404 billion.

Meta, for one, paid $2.8 billion in federal income tax in 2025, down from $9.6 billion in 2024, while earning roughly the same profit both years.

"This enormous tax cut appears to have been driven in significant part by President Trump and Republicans' tax breaks subsidizing your spending on AI," the lawmakers wrote in their letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "[Y]our company's capital expenditures, the 'vast majority' of which constitute data center construction and other AI spending amounted to an extraordinary $72 billion last year — much of which you may have been able to immediately deduct using OBBBA's corporate tax handouts."

Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are the top three data center companies in the U.S. by active IT capacity, according to the technology advising firm ABI Research. Google Cloud, which is part of Alphabet, is 10th.

Pointing to corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the lawmakers in their letter note Microsoft's current federal income tax expense dropped by over $11 billion from fiscal year 2025 to 2026; Amazon's federal income tax payment dropped by nearly $8 billion from fiscal 2024 to 2025; and Alphabet's combined current federal and state income tax expense dropped by over $7 billion in the same period.

The companies contributed $1 million each to Trump's inauguration and spent millions lobbying Congress and federal agencies in the lead-up to the passage of the 2025 tax and spending bill, according to the letter.

"Your company has spent lavishly to stay on the good side of President Trump, and it appears that you are now seeing your investment bear fruit," the lawmakers wrote.

They requested answers from each company by Oct. 12.

Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,435 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,980,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 37.4% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $101,000. Finally, Ramsey Quantitative Systems acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $112,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot “super app” that combines access to Office applications with coding tools, autonomous AI agents and an Autopilot feature. The initiative is aimed primarily at business users and could improve enterprise adoption, usage and monetization of Microsoft’s AI offerings. Reuters article Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer raised its Microsoft price target to $570, citing the company’s shift toward enterprise AI agents and a billing model tied more closely to customer usage. Other recent analyst targets have also moved higher, reinforcing expectations for sustained Azure and AI growth. Oppenheimer target article Positive Sentiment: Investors appear more confident that Microsoft can benefit from AI without depending on a single large-model provider. Its Azure cloud platform, Microsoft 365 ecosystem and enterprise distribution provide multiple avenues for converting AI investment into recurring revenue. MarketWatch article Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy bullish options activity, including a large call spread, suggests traders are positioning for additional upside. Technical analysts identified a potential move toward approximately $555, although this is market positioning rather than a fundamental forecast. Barchart options article Neutral Sentiment: Broader market gains, led by AI stocks, provided an additional tailwind. However, elevated oil prices, Treasury yields and uncertainty over potential Federal Reserve policy changes remain important macroeconomic risks. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is moving away from a consumer-focused personal-assistant strategy and concentrating Copilot on workplace use. The usage-based approach could unlock greater revenue, but it may also make sales less predictable than traditional subscriptions if customer adoption is slower than expected. Financial Post article Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to monitor Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending, data-center capacity constraints and a reported 277-job reduction in Washington. These factors could pressure near-term margins even as Azure demand remains strong. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several research firms have commented on MSFT. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Phillip Securities cut Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $569.29. Read Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT

Microsoft Stock Performance Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $516.17 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $477.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.29. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week 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 for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s 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 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Data Centers Got the AI Hype—But Office REITs May Get the Rent Hikes 2 Cybersecurity Stocks Breaking Out as AI Continues to Be a Tailwind 3 More AI Infrastructure Plays Beyond the Big Names CAVA Stock Slips: Sector Fear or Valuation Reality? 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).

Receive News & Ratings for Microsoft Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Microsoft and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 2.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 153,883 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,355 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.6% of Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $57,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Carrera Capital Advisors lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 8,054 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,004,000 after buying an additional 816 shares during the last quarter. Turn8 Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 20.1% during the second quarter. Turn8 Private Wealth Inc. now owns 22,110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,247,000 after buying an additional 3,708 shares during the last quarter. Fire Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fire Capital Management LLC now owns 18,903 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,051,000 after acquiring an additional 2,851 shares during the last quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,595,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. increased its position in Microsoft by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. now owns 48,411 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,058,000 after acquiring an additional 4,848 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $510.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $569.29.

Check Out Our Latest Report on MSFT Insider Activity at Microsoft In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale 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 company’s 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 directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot “super app” that combines access to Office applications with coding tools, autonomous AI agents and an Autopilot feature. The initiative is aimed primarily at business users and could improve enterprise adoption, usage and monetization of Microsoft’s AI offerings. Reuters article Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer raised its Microsoft price target to $570, citing the company’s shift toward enterprise AI agents and a billing model tied more closely to customer usage. Other recent analyst targets have also moved higher, reinforcing expectations for sustained Azure and AI growth. Oppenheimer target article Positive Sentiment: Investors appear more confident that Microsoft can benefit from AI without depending on a single large-model provider. Its Azure cloud platform, Microsoft 365 ecosystem and enterprise distribution provide multiple avenues for converting AI investment into recurring revenue. MarketWatch article Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy bullish options activity, including a large call spread, suggests traders are positioning for additional upside. Technical analysts identified a potential move toward approximately $555, although this is market positioning rather than a fundamental forecast. Barchart options article Neutral Sentiment: Broader market gains, led by AI stocks, provided an additional tailwind. However, elevated oil prices, Treasury yields and uncertainty over potential Federal Reserve policy changes remain important macroeconomic risks. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is moving away from a consumer-focused personal-assistant strategy and concentrating Copilot on workplace use. The usage-based approach could unlock greater revenue, but it may also make sales less predictable than traditional subscriptions if customer adoption is slower than expected. Financial Post article Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to monitor Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending, data-center capacity constraints and a reported 277-job reduction in Washington. These factors could pressure near-term margins even as Azure demand remains strong. Microsoft Price Performance Microsoft stock opened at $516.17 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $477.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.29.

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 company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Data Centers Got the AI Hype—But Office REITs May Get the Rent Hikes 2 Cybersecurity Stocks Breaking Out as AI Continues to Be a Tailwind 3 More AI Infrastructure Plays Beyond the Big Names CAVA Stock Slips: Sector Fear or Valuation Reality? 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).

Receive News & Ratings for Microsoft Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Microsoft and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

Azure just crossed a milestone that most analysts dismissed as years away, and Microsoft's backlog tells a story the stock price has not caught up to yet.

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Our Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) call is straightforward: the AI investment cycle is starting to produce real financial leverage, and the market has not fully repriced it.

The 24/7 Wall St. price target for Microsoft is $613.43, versus a current price of $495.22. That implies 22.85% upside over the next 12 months. Our recommendation is buy, and our confidence level is high at 90%.

24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary for MSFT Metric Value Current Price $495.22 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $613.43 Upside 22.85% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% Why Microsoft Finally Turned the Corner Microsoft is roughly flat over the past year at -1.95%, but shorter-term momentum has quietly returned: up 1.62% in the past month and 3.05% year to date.

The bigger story is fundamentals. Fiscal Q4 2026 revenue hit $90.01 billion, up 17.8% year over year, non-GAAP EPS of $4.74 beat estimates by 11.81%, and Azure crossed $100 billion in full-year revenue for the first time. Even a previously skeptical analyst at CNBC this week said Microsoft has “clearly turned the corner” on monetizing its buildout.

Why Bulls See a Breakout Ahead The bull case rests on the RPO backlog. Commercial remaining performance obligations surged 84% year over year to $678 billion, giving Microsoft multi-year revenue visibility few software companies can match.

Azure grew 43%, Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats, and CFO Amy Hood told investors that “demand continues to exceed available supply” for Azure capacity.

If the FY27 Azure guide of roughly 45% growth in constant currency holds, our bull-case one-year path reaches $710.57. The Wall Street consensus target of $576.40 sits between our base and bull scenarios.

Risks Worth Watching The bear case starts with capex. Full-year FY26 capital expenditures ballooned to $115.95 billion, dragging free cash flow down 6.46% despite record earnings. OpenAI-related investment losses widened to $3.1 billion in Q1 FY26.

That said, bulls would argue this reflects investment in future capacity: the $678 billion RPO covers the buildout, and Hood emphasized that GPU-heavy capex is “short-lived assets” that can be throttled if demand softens.

All of that spending has to be powered, cooled, and networked by somebody, and we pulled together seven companies doing exactly that in a free AI infrastructure report. Our bear-case one-year path still lands at $523.51, above today’s price.

How Microsoft Compares to Alphabet and Amazon Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is the sharpest valuation contrast. Google Cloud grew 82% in Q2 2026, faster than Azure, yet Alphabet trades at a trailing P/E of just 15 versus Microsoft’s 28. That makes Microsoft look expensive on the multiple, but its 46.78% operating margin dwarfs Alphabet’s 34%.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the direct hyperscaler comparison. AWS revenue grew 37% in Q2 2026 at a 39.4% AWS operating margin, but Amazon’s overall net margin is only 10.83% versus Microsoft’s 40.31%. On a per-dollar-of-earnings basis, our $613.43 target for Microsoft looks reasonable on the earnings power.

Microsoft on the AI Payoff Curve The 24/7 Wall St. price target for Microsoft is $613.43, a buy rating with 90% confidence. The key factor tipping the scale is the $678 billion RPO backlog, which converts today’s capex into tomorrow’s revenue.

The bullish case strengthens if Azure holds its mid-40s growth rate into calendar 2027. The thesis weakens if AI capex growth outpaces RPO conversion for two consecutive quarters. On balance, the setup favors the bull scenario.

Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $523 2027 $613 2028 $723 2029 $782 2030 $862 These projections assume Microsoft continues executing on Azure and Copilot monetization. Significant upside or downside could result from AI infrastructure returns, OpenAI partnership economics, or a broader tech multiple reset.

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If you've been in or around the stock market for any length of time at all, then you've almost certainly heard the term. But what exactly are the so-called "Magnificent Seven" stocks everyone keeps talking about? And perhaps more importantly, are any of them worth buying right now?

As is always the case, some are more promising than others. Some of them are still worth buying, while I could take or leave others. There's one Magnificent Seven name, however, I'd make a point of steering clear of, or even selling if you currently own it.

But first things first.

Image source: Getty Images.

What are the "Magnificent Seven"? The first known use of the term in this way came from Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett back in 2023, when he was describing the then-market-leading performances of a handful of enormous, pace-setting technology stocks. Those seven stocks are Apple (AAPL +1.53%), Amazon (AMZN +0.12%), Alphabet (GOOG +0.61%)(GOOGL +0.46%), Meta Platforms (META -3.33%), Microsoft (MSFT +3.66%), Nvidia (NVDA +0.22%), and Tesla (TSLA -1.54%). If it seems like the term has been around for far longer, however, that's because there was a 1960 (and 2016 remake) film of the same name.

And it was an appropriate description. Remember, not only was the tech-led post-pandemic recovery in full swing by 2023, but the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in late 2022 had sparked an artificial intelligence (AI) race that benefited several technology companies. You may also recall that the electric-vehicle revolution that Tesla started finally reached a tipping point around that time.

Data by YCharts.

As could have been expected, however, things have changed somewhat since then. Amazon, Microsoft, and Tesla have all underperformed the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.51%) for the past year, give or take. Investors appear worried that Amazon's heavy spending on AI infrastructure won't curb the continued deterioration of its share of the cloud computing market, while Microsoft's chat-based assistant simply isn't getting the kind of traction that ChatGPT and Google's Gemini are. Tesla's losing EV market share to China's BYD as well.

The names among these seven that are still rallying aren't necessarily the ones worth stepping into right now, however, just as the laggards aren't necessarily the stocks to avoid. In fact, I think you could make decent bullish cases and bearish cases for all but one of the Magnificent Seven stocks. The one I'd avoid or even sell right now if I owned it? That's Microsoft.

Why not Microsoft? Don't misunderstand. If you've thought it through and still like it, there are certainly worse stocks to own than the software giant.

There are just too many concerns I have about its business, though, that I fear could undermine not only its recent run-up, but also its performance for the foreseeable future.

Based on the company's results for the three months ending in June, clearly not everyone agrees. Shares soared on its 18% year-over-year revenue growth, led by 43% growth of its Azure business, where its artificial intelligence numbers are recorded. Both numbers topped analysts' estimates, too. The company's even looking for 45% revenue growth from its AI businesses for the quarter ending this month, with a backlog of $678 billion worth of business that's already lined up just waiting to be booked as revenue.

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This future contracted business is something of a double-edged sword, however. Although it's ready and waiting, given the scarcity and still-rising prices of AI data center hardware, Microsoft's cost and capacity to deliver it isn't set in stone. Generating this revenue could prove unexpectedly costly to shareholders.

Another big concern is the company's lack of traction on the AI chat-based assistant front.

Although Microsoft reports there are now a respectable 30 million paid users of the professional version of its Copilot platform that integrates well with the rest of the company's office-productivity software, at a price of between $21 and $38 per month (depending on the version), enterprises are increasingly questioning the cost for the value when cheaper (and even free) alternatives are available ... even if they don't integrate with office software. Either way, Microsoft will run out of prospective enterprise users of Copilot sooner or later, and likely sooner, given that its share of the office-productivity software market continues to dwindle.

In this vein, its Windows operating system franchise continues to weaken as the world opts for mobile devices that are displacing personal computers. It's also difficult to ignore that the free-to-use consumer-facing version of Copilot isn't gaining market share while Google's Gemini and even Anthropic's Claude are, and while OpenAI's ChatGPT still dominates the free AI assistant landscape. Microsoft's Xbox video gaming business is also losing steam, reporting a 10% drop in revenue last quarter after a 5% slide in the prior quarter.

So, connect the dots. Much of the bullishness surrounding this stock is rooted in its artificial intelligence business that may or may not materialize as expected, particularly if enterprises are forced by economic headwinds to dial back their AI investment plans. I'm just not sure I'd be willing to make a bold bet on a company that just three months ago most investors were convinced was more of a liability than an opportunity. Things didn't change that much that quickly, even if its AI business did dish out something of a pleasant surprise in July.

Perryman Financial Advisory Inc. AD raised its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,233 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,480 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.6% of Perryman Financial Advisory Inc. AD’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Perryman Financial Advisory Inc. AD’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Microsoft by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after buying an additional 9,814,598 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Microsoft by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,852,884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784,809 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,235,785,000 after buying an additional 458,014 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Microsoft by 64.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,982,083,000 after acquiring an additional 9,493,778 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot “super app” that combines access to Office applications with coding tools, autonomous AI agents and an Autopilot feature. The initiative is aimed primarily at business users and could improve enterprise adoption, usage and monetization of Microsoft’s AI offerings. Reuters article Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer raised its Microsoft price target to $570, citing the company’s shift toward enterprise AI agents and a billing model tied more closely to customer usage. Other recent analyst targets have also moved higher, reinforcing expectations for sustained Azure and AI growth. Oppenheimer target article Positive Sentiment: Investors appear more confident that Microsoft can benefit from AI without depending on a single large-model provider. Its Azure cloud platform, Microsoft 365 ecosystem and enterprise distribution provide multiple avenues for converting AI investment into recurring revenue. MarketWatch article Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy bullish options activity, including a large call spread, suggests traders are positioning for additional upside. Technical analysts identified a potential move toward approximately $555, although this is market positioning rather than a fundamental forecast. Barchart options article Neutral Sentiment: Broader market gains, led by AI stocks, provided an additional tailwind. However, elevated oil prices, Treasury yields and uncertainty over potential Federal Reserve policy changes remain important macroeconomic risks. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is moving away from a consumer-focused personal-assistant strategy and concentrating Copilot on workplace use. The usage-based approach could unlock greater revenue, but it may also make sales less predictable than traditional subscriptions if customer adoption is slower than expected. Financial Post article Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to monitor Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending, data-center capacity constraints and a reported 277-job reduction in Washington. These factors could pressure near-term margins even as Azure demand remains strong. Microsoft Price Performance Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $516.17 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $477.93 and a 200-day moving average of $426.17. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. CLSA restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $569.29.

View Our Latest Report on MSFT

Insider Activity at Microsoft In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

Recommended Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Costco Ends Its Fiscal Year on a High Note, Eyes Big Expansion Cracker Barrel Stock Is Rallying Again, But the Turnaround Still Has a Traffic Problem Oracle’s Force Majeure Notice Exposes a Bigger Problem for the AI Build-Out Oil May Be Stronger Than It Looks—And Diamondback Is on Sale 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).

Receive News & Ratings for Microsoft Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Microsoft and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

a16z Perennial Management L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 86.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,486 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,665 shares during the period. a16z Perennial Management L.P.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.0% during the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $85,604,000 after acquiring an additional 8,773 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 138.8% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 788,297 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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 transaction 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 approximately $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $569.29. View Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft

Microsoft Trading Up 3.7% NASDAQ MSFT opened at $516.17 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 current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $477.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a $0.98 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

More Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot “super app” that combines access to Office applications with coding tools, autonomous AI agents and an Autopilot feature. The initiative is aimed primarily at business users and could improve enterprise adoption, usage and monetization of Microsoft’s AI offerings. Reuters article Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer raised its Microsoft price target to $570, citing the company’s shift toward enterprise AI agents and a billing model tied more closely to customer usage. Other recent analyst targets have also moved higher, reinforcing expectations for sustained Azure and AI growth. Oppenheimer target article Positive Sentiment: Investors appear more confident that Microsoft can benefit from AI without depending on a single large-model provider. Its Azure cloud platform, Microsoft 365 ecosystem and enterprise distribution provide multiple avenues for converting AI investment into recurring revenue. MarketWatch article Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy bullish options activity, including a large call spread, suggests traders are positioning for additional upside. Technical analysts identified a potential move toward approximately $555, although this is market positioning rather than a fundamental forecast. Barchart options article Neutral Sentiment: Broader market gains, led by AI stocks, provided an additional tailwind. However, elevated oil prices, Treasury yields and uncertainty over potential Federal Reserve policy changes remain important macroeconomic risks. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is moving away from a consumer-focused personal-assistant strategy and concentrating Copilot on workplace use. The usage-based approach could unlock greater revenue, but it may also make sales less predictable than traditional subscriptions if customer adoption is slower than expected. Financial Post article Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to monitor Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending, data-center capacity constraints and a reported 277-job reduction in Washington. These factors could pressure near-term margins even as Azure demand remains strong. Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Costco Ends Its Fiscal Year on a High Note, Eyes Big Expansion Cracker Barrel Stock Is Rallying Again, But the Turnaround Still Has a Traffic Problem Oracle’s Force Majeure Notice Exposes a Bigger Problem for the AI Build-Out Oil May Be Stronger Than It Looks—And Diamondback Is on Sale 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).

Receive News & Ratings for Microsoft Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Microsoft and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,812 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,720 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.4% of BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Partners in Financial Planning boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Partners in Financial Planning now owns 2,593 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,254,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 8,368 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $160,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Sequent Planning LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 3,733 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC now owns 5,543 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,052,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot “super app” that combines access to Office applications with coding tools, autonomous AI agents and an Autopilot feature. The initiative is aimed primarily at business users and could improve enterprise adoption, usage and monetization of Microsoft’s AI offerings. Reuters article Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer raised its Microsoft price target to $570, citing the company’s shift toward enterprise AI agents and a billing model tied more closely to customer usage. Other recent analyst targets have also moved higher, reinforcing expectations for sustained Azure and AI growth. Oppenheimer target article Positive Sentiment: Investors appear more confident that Microsoft can benefit from AI without depending on a single large-model provider. Its Azure cloud platform, Microsoft 365 ecosystem and enterprise distribution provide multiple avenues for converting AI investment into recurring revenue. MarketWatch article Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy bullish options activity, including a large call spread, suggests traders are positioning for additional upside. Technical analysts identified a potential move toward approximately $555, although this is market positioning rather than a fundamental forecast. Barchart options article Neutral Sentiment: Broader market gains, led by AI stocks, provided an additional tailwind. However, elevated oil prices, Treasury yields and uncertainty over potential Federal Reserve policy changes remain important macroeconomic risks. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is moving away from a consumer-focused personal-assistant strategy and concentrating Copilot on workplace use. The usage-based approach could unlock greater revenue, but it may also make sales less predictable than traditional subscriptions if customer adoption is slower than expected. Financial Post article Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to monitor Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending, data-center capacity constraints and a reported 277-job reduction in Washington. These factors could pressure near-term margins even as Azure demand remains strong. Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. 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 firm’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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $440.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $569.29.

Get Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft

Microsoft Stock Up 3.7% Shares of MSFT stock opened at $516.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $477.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.17. 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 (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. 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 previous year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

About Microsoft (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Costco Ends Its Fiscal Year on a High Note, Eyes Big Expansion Cracker Barrel Stock Is Rallying Again, But the Turnaround Still Has a Traffic Problem Oracle’s Force Majeure Notice Exposes a Bigger Problem for the AI Build-Out Oil May Be Stronger Than It Looks—And Diamondback Is on Sale 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).

Receive News & Ratings for Microsoft Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Microsoft and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.