Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

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.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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).

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EdgeRock Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 16.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,406 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,852 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.1% of EdgeRock Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. EdgeRock Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,001,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 30.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,426,862,000 after acquiring an additional 9,814,598 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring 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 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,235,785,000 after acquiring an additional 458,014 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 64.3% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,982,083,000 after acquiring an additional 9,493,778 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance NASDAQ MSFT opened at $516.17 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $477.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $426.17. The firm has a market capitalization 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Corporation has a 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 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 firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Argus lowered their price target on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $440.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $569.29.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Microsoft

Microsoft News Roundup 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 Activity In other 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 transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 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 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 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.

Microsoft (MSFT +3.66%) spent the first half of 2026 moving the wrong way. From a record close of $542.07 on Oct. 28, 2025, the stock fell to $352.83 by June 25 -- a drop of about 35%.

The recovery has been just as sharp. At roughly $516 as I write, including a gain of over 3% on Friday, shares have risen about 46% from the late-June low. They are now only about 5% off the record.

But most of the rebound happened in one week. The stock leaped around 26% in the four trading days after Microsoft's fiscal fourth-quarter report on July 29. It has mainly traded between about $480 and $515 since.

So, is what's left of the gap to the record a buying window, or have the easy gains already been made?

Image source: Getty Images.

A $190 billion tabWhen Microsoft posted its fiscal third-quarter results in late April, Amy Hood, the company's chief financial officer, said it expected to spend around $190 billion on capital expenditures in calendar 2026.

Meanwhile, growth for Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform, was stuck near 40%. Revenue from Azure and other cloud services rose 40% for Microsoft's fiscal first quarter of 2026 (the three months ended Sept. 30, 2025). Growth then came in at 39% and 40% in the next two quarters.

It was impressive growth for a business this size. But it was a flat line beside a spending plan that kept getting bigger.

Investors seemed worried that Microsoft was spending faster than Azure could grow. After a rally in May, the stock slid around 22% from the end of that month to its June 25 low.

Azure finally sped upThe July report changed that picture. Azure and other cloud services revenue rose 43% for the three months ended June 30 -- well above the 39% to 40% range management had predicted in April. Hood credited efficiency gains and faster delivery of new capacity, and she said the added capacity "was quickly monetized."

She then guided for Azure growth of around 45% in constant currency for the quarter ending Sept. 30. In September, Microsoft shifted a few businesses out of Azure in a reporting change. This cuts the June quarter's growth to 42% and the guidance to 44% to 45%. Reaching that mark would mean a second straight quarter of faster growth.

The spending, notably, didn't shrink. Capital expenditures, including finance leases, rose 69% year over year to $41 billion in the June quarter, up from $31.9 billion three months earlier. Management now sees calendar 2026 spending at around $175 billion. But Hood said the smaller number comes from an accounting change for some data center leases, and that the underlying plan for the year hasn't changed. She also expects capital spending to climb again in fiscal 2027.

In other words, the cost of Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) build-out didn't drop in July. Azure's growth just finally began to speed up alongside it. I think that shift is what investors paid for in the days that followed.

Is the stock still a buy?The valuation arguably looks much more reasonable than it did at the high. At its record close in October 2025, Microsoft traded at around 40 times earnings. Now, shares trade at about 29 times earnings, using the $17.95 per share Microsoft earned in fiscal 2026.

The change mostly came from earnings growth. Earnings per share climbed 32% last fiscal year, or 22% excluding the effect of Microsoft's investment in OpenAI.

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Cash is another story. Operating cash flow grew 30% year over year to $55.4 billion in the June quarter. Free cash flow (operating cash flow minus cash spent on property and equipment), though, dropped around 23% to $19.6 billion. For the full fiscal year, free cash flow slid to around $67 billion from about $72 billion. And Hood's stated aim for fiscal 2027 is just to "remain free cash flow positive."

Sure, OpenAI is still a risk. Microsoft's arrangements with the ChatGPT maker produced $24.1 billion of its fiscal 2026 revenue, and OpenAI reportedly burned $3.7 billion of cash from January through March alone. But Hood said almost 90% of Microsoft's cloud revenue last fiscal year came from customers other than the firms making frontier AI models.

In the end, I don't think the remaining gap is much of a buying window. The business is in better shape than it was in June, and Azure might keep speeding up. But the price already reflects a good part of that, while the spending keeps climbing and free cash flow is still dropping.

If Azure posts growth around 45% this quarter and free cash flow starts rising again, I'd consider buying. For now, I think Microsoft stock is about fairly priced.

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Microsoft (MSFT +3.66%), an enterprise software and cloud infrastructure provider, closed at $516.17. The stock rose after Microsoft unveiled a Copilot revamp. Investors are watching to see AI adoption rates and cloud demand in the upcoming quarters. Trading volume reached 37.9M shares, coming in nearly 15% above its three-month average of 32.9M shares.

How the markets moved todayS&P 500 (^GSPC +0.51%) closed at 7,742, up 0.49%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +0.48%) finished at 27,069, up 0.48%. Among large-cap software, cloud computing, and enterprise productivity technology rivals, Oracle (ORCL -1.75%) closed at $137.10, down 1.75%, while Alphabet (GOOGL +0.46%) closed at $343.92, up 0.46%, as investors kept focusing on AI cloud demand and Microsoft's spending plans.

What this means for investorsMicrosoft highlighted an array of new Copilot capabilities today, including coding tools and a persistent AI agent, as it tries to develop its AI offerings beyond its original "chat assistant" AI.

Spending over $115 billion on capex, mostly for data centers and AI infrastructure in 2026, MSFT stock (and most of the Magnificent Seven) will be under close scrutiny as the market waits for an ROI on these massive outlays.

Today's positive market reaction suggests it views Copilot's new updates as a step in the right direction, but it is still very early innings in the AI transformation, so investors shouldn't overreact one way or the other based solely on today's news.

That said, Microsoft trades at 21 times cash from operations -- slightly below its five-year average of 25 -- so if its investments pay off, there is ample room for upside in the reasonably priced stock.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Microsoft, and Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Azure just crossed a milestone that reshapes how analysts think about Microsoft's ceiling, and the five-year math behind a modest stake today tells a story Wall Street's consensus target barely hints at.

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Microsoft has become the default proxy for the enterprise AI trade, and after a record fiscal year the question every investor is asking is a simple one: what could a $10,000 stake in Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) grow into over the next several years?

Shares trade around $498.51, giving the software giant a market cap near $3.70 trillion. With Azure now a $100 billion annual business and Microsoft 365 Copilot at 30 million paid seats, the setup for a long horizon look is unusually rich.

Base Case Answer for a $10,000 Stake Anchoring to the nearest modeled horizon, a five-year projection ending September 2031, the base case says a $10,000 investment in Microsoft could be worth about $20,731, a total return of 107.31%, or an annualized 15.7%.

That base case is built on a modeled per-share price of $1,032.38. As an illustrative checkpoint aligned with the calendar 2030 target, the same base path passes through $956.80 on September 23, 2030, which would put the stake at roughly $19,213.

On a nearer term view, the model’s one-year target is $640.92, implying a 28.7% upside and a $10,000 stake growing to about $12,870 over the next twelve months. The recommendation on the security is buy, with a model confidence rating of high.

Bull, Base, and Bear Scenarios Through 2030 The five-year model output frames a wide range of outcomes. The table below shows the modeled per-share target, the total return, and where a $10,000 stake ends up in each case at the modeled horizon. Figures for the calendar 2030 checkpoint are illustrative interpolations from the same series.

Scenario 5-Year Target Price Total Return $10,000 Becomes Bull $1,240.06 149.01% $24,901 Base $1,032.38 107.31% $20,731 Bear $666.66 33.87% $13,387 At the illustrative September 2030 waypoint, the bull path runs through $1,152.17 (about $23,136) and the bear path through $624.46 (about $12,539).

Wall Street’s consensus target sits at $575.34, backed by 14 strong buy, 38 buy, and 3 hold ratings, with 95% of analysts bullish.

Why the Model Sees Durable Upside The base case rests on three drivers investors have been watching all year. First, Azure crossed $100 billion in annual revenue, up 41%, and management guided fiscal first quarter Azure growth to approximately 45% in constant currency.

Demand still exceeds supply, with CFO Amy Hood noting “There are still constraints in the system.” The buildout behind that demand, power, cooling, and networking, is exactly the trade we mapped in a free report on seven AI infrastructure names beyond the chipmakers: here.

Second, the commercial backlog is a rare visibility asset. Remaining performance obligations climbed to $678 billion, up 84%, with approximately 30% expected to convert to revenue within twelve months and the remainder pushing well into the decade.

Third, Copilot monetization is expanding, with paid seats topping 30 million and enterprise deployments like EY at 400,000 employees and HSBC at 200,000 seats layering on top of usage-based billing.

CEO Satya Nadella said, “I’ve never been more confident in Microsoft’s opportunity to drive durable long-term growth.”

What Could Sink the Projection The bear scenario is not a fringe outcome. Fiscal 2026 capital expenditure hit $115.95 billion, up 79.62%, and management now expects FY27 capex near $175 billion. If AI monetization lags that build, return on invested capital compresses.

Hood said the largest share of that spend is short-lived assets such as CPUs and GPUs, which gives Microsoft flexibility, but the risk of overbuilding, rising component costs, or a slower Copilot ramp is real.

Add regulatory scrutiny of AI, cybersecurity exposure at hyperscale, and a beta of 1.108 that leaves shares tied to broader tech sentiment, and the path is anything but linear.

What It Means for Your $10,000 Across the modeled five-year window, a $10,000 stake in Microsoft ranges from about $13,387 in the bear case to $20,731 in the base case and up to $24,901 in the bull case. The illustrative 2030 checkpoints fall inside that same band.

These are scenario projections, not guarantees, and this article is not investment advice. What the numbers do capture is the range Microsoft’s cash engine, backlog, and AI platform reasonably support if execution stays on the current track.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Bloomberg's Tim Stenovec breaks down Anthropic's $11.6 billion contract with Akamai for AI computing power, the largest deal in Akamai's history. Plus, President Donald Trump calls his meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping "very productive" with little to show for it.

Tech StocksMicrosoft shares got off to a rough start this year, but investors have warmed to the company’s AI narrative over the past few months

Microsoft has positioned itself as a software company that isn’t exclusively tied to any of the big artificial-intelligence model makers, and that’s shaping up to be a key advantage, according to an analyst.

Shares of Microsoft MSFT have climbed well off their 2026 lows and were up 3.2% to $513.77 on Friday — on track to clinch their highest close since November.

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Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares rose over 3% in morning trading Friday after the software company unveiled an expanded version of its Copilot artificial intelligence (AI) assistant.

Microsoft introduced three new Copilot features, Home, Code and Autopilot, which are designed to give users broader access to workplace information, software development tools and automated tasks.

Home brings together meetings, conversations, documents, emails, applications and artificial intelligence agents in a single workspace, while Code allows users to create small applications for specific tasks.

Autopilot is designed as a more proactive artificial intelligence agent that can track workplace discussions, carry out recurring tasks and resume projects when users return.

Microsoft said Home and Code will begin rolling out through its Frontier program in the coming weeks, while Autopilot will enter an expanded private preview by the end of September.

The release comes as Microsoft seeks to increase adoption of Copilot among corporate customers and deepen the role of artificial intelligence across its software products.

The company has been investing heavily in AI infrastructure and services as it seeks to monetize demand for AI tools through its cloud and software businesses.

Microsoft MSFT stock rallied about 4% on Friday after the software giant unveiled a major expansion of its Copilot AI assistant, adding coding capabilities, autonomous AI agents, and direct access to Office applications.

The latest update is part of Microsoft’s effort to turn Copilot into a broader productivity platform for enterprise users, bringing together tools that previously required separate products.

The company is also seeking to encourage more Office 365 customers to pay for its advanced AI capabilities at a time when adoption of its flagship workplace AI product remains relatively limited.

Microsoft is embedding Word, Excel and PowerPoint directly into Copilot, allowing users to work on documents, spreadsheets and presentations without leaving the AI application.

The company also introduced new tools designed to let Copilot handle more complex tasks and operate more independently.

The move follows Chief Executive Satya Nadella’s comments in June about building a Copilot “super app” that could bring together a wider range of AI-powered functions.

One of the most significant additions is a new feature called “Code”, which allows users to create applications, dashboards and other software using natural-language prompts.

The tool is powered by the same technology behind Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot and is expected to begin rolling out to early-access customers at the end of September.

Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro subscribers will be able to preview the feature later this year.

The company is also introducing “Autopilot”, a revamped version of the “Scout” AI agent it unveiled in June.

The digital coworker will enter private preview at the end of the month.

Unlike a conventional chatbot, the agent is designed to operate with its own identity within a company directory and can be assigned specific permissions by users.

That could allow businesses to deploy AI agents for tasks that require access to internal systems while maintaining controls over what those agents can do.

Microsoft is positioning those governance features as critical to wider enterprise adoption.

“I think it's been very hard for many organizations ⁠to bring agents into the enterprise because of security, compliance and governance concerns,” Annie Pearl, corporate vice president of Copilot Product, said in an interview.

“So we've worked... to make sure ⁠that we were building this in a way that would really be able to be used in the enterprise.”

The expanded Copilot offering comes as Microsoft tries to close a significant gap between the reach of its Office software and adoption of its AI assistant.

Microsoft has more than 450 million commercial Office 365 seats globally, but fewer than 7% currently have licenses for the AI addition.

The company has also until now marketed its Microsoft 365 Copilot assistant for knowledge work separately from GitHub Copilot, which focuses on software development.

That separation is becoming less attractive as the AI market increasingly moves towards products that combine multiple capabilities in a single interface.

OpenAI and Anthropic have been building products that bring together functions such as writing, research, coding and task automation.

Microsoft’s latest Copilot update appears designed to compete with that broader approach by making the AI assistant a central gateway to both productivity and software development.

The integration of Word, Excel and PowerPoint could also make Copilot more useful to existing Microsoft customers by reducing the need to switch between applications.

Microsoft also introduced new cost-management capabilities that will allow employees and businesses to gain more visibility into spending associated with AI usage.

The feature comes as companies become increasingly concerned that rapid adoption of AI tools and agents could result in unexpected costs.

For Microsoft, providing greater visibility into usage and expenses could help address one of the barriers to enterprise adoption while giving corporate customers more control over how AI is deployed across their organisations.

The company has also announced increased volume discounts for enterprise Copilot subscriptions, effective in October.

The pricing changes coincide with the product expansion and could help Microsoft encourage larger-scale corporate adoption.

The Copilot expansion comes as Microsoft shares enter the latest product launch with a mixed performance for the year but a much stronger six-month run.

Microsoft stock was up about 3% in 2026 through Thursday’s close, trailing the Nasdaq and several other megacap technology companies.

The shares, however, have gained about 40% over the past six months.

Stifel upgraded Microsoft from Hold to Buy on September 23 and raised its price target to $575, arguing that the company had “clearly turned the corner” following its fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 results.

The upgrade followed strong growth in Azure and Copilot surpassing 30 million paid seats.

Stifel analyst Brad Reback expects Microsoft’s recent momentum to continue, citing his “growing sense the company can drive sustained strong Azure upside.”

Reback believes Microsoft can improve monetisation of its computing capacity while slowing the growth of expenses associated with developing large language models.

He also expects the company to benefit from accelerating business at OpenAI, one of its key partners.

The analyst said Microsoft “appears to be hitting a more sustained efficiency cadence across” chips, AI models and software, potentially leaving more computing capacity available for monetisation through third-party applications and customers.

Although Microsoft has continued to say that AI demand exceeds supply, Reback noted that the company has “softened its messaging around the need to deploy additional capacity” for some initiatives.

That could give Microsoft greater flexibility to monetise existing Azure computing capacity rather than continually directing resources towards additional infrastructure.

Reback also pointed to the growing availability of open-weight AI models as a positive for Microsoft’s strategy of remaining “agnostic” on AI models.

Azure hosts open-weight models that can also power Copilot, giving Microsoft another route to benefit from expanding AI usage across its cloud platform.

The analyst said he was “increasingly comfortable with the company's ability to sustain” revenue growth in the mid- to upper-teens range.

He also does not expect Microsoft to require “outside financing,” citing the company’s improving “operational efficiencies.”

At the same time, Reback expects improvements to Microsoft 365 to support wider Copilot adoption.

Growing use of GitHub could provide another source of momentum, particularly as Microsoft brings coding and productivity functions closer together under the broader Copilot umbrella.

Noble Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,822 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $2,172,000. Microsoft comprises 1.9% of Noble Wealth Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $35,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $101,000. Ramsey Quantitative Systems purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $112,000. Finally, Midwest Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC now owns 422 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5% NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $497.93 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $475.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $425.54. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 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 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current year. Microsoft Increases Dividend The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Argus decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $569.29.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft

Insider Activity In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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

Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism is increasing. Stifel upgraded Microsoft to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $575, citing Azure and Copilot growth, durable margins, and a path for AI spending to produce stronger revenue. Jefferies also reaffirmed its Buy rating, while other analysts highlighted potential upside. Why These Wall Street Analysts Think Microsoft Stock Is Getting Back on Track Positive Sentiment: Azure demand remains the central growth catalyst. Reports point to a roughly $678 billion backlog and the need for Microsoft to add data-center capacity quickly enough to serve existing customers. Azure Red Hat OpenShift for Azure Government also received DoD Impact Level 5 certification, expanding its use among government and highly regulated customers. Azure Red Hat OpenShift Achieves IL5 Certification Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding its AI infrastructure footprint. The company plans to invest more than $10 billion in Gulf-region cloud, AI, connectivity and cybersecurity infrastructure through 2030, potentially supporting long-term regional demand. Microsoft Plans Gulf Investment 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.

Recommended Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Hims & Hers Slides Nearly 7% as Legal Pressure Adds to Its Growing List of Risks Paychex Plunges, Providing the Entry Investors Have Been Waiting For The Case for Buying High-Yield General Mills Just Strengthened SanDisk’s $1,800 Breakout Turns Memory Hardware Into a Profit Story 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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Trinity Legacy Partners LLC grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,022 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,546 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.2% of Trinity Legacy Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,240,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 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. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 234.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,822,280 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,619,211,000 after purchasing an additional 12,493,786 shares during the period. 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. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake 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 buying an additional 9,493,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 38,442.1% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,810,388 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,521,001,000 after buying an additional 6,792,718 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial lowered Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-three research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $569.29. Get Our Latest Report on Microsoft

Trending Headlines about Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism is increasing. Stifel upgraded Microsoft to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $575, citing Azure and Copilot growth, durable margins, and a path for AI spending to produce stronger revenue. Jefferies also reaffirmed its Buy rating, while other analysts highlighted potential upside. Why These Wall Street Analysts Think Microsoft Stock Is Getting Back on Track Positive Sentiment: Azure demand remains the central growth catalyst. Reports point to a roughly $678 billion backlog and the need for Microsoft to add data-center capacity quickly enough to serve existing customers. Azure Red Hat OpenShift for Azure Government also received DoD Impact Level 5 certification, expanding its use among government and highly regulated customers. Azure Red Hat OpenShift Achieves IL5 Certification Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding its AI infrastructure footprint. The company plans to invest more than $10 billion in Gulf-region cloud, AI, connectivity and cybersecurity infrastructure through 2030, potentially supporting long-term regional demand. Microsoft Plans Gulf Investment Microsoft Trading Down 0.5% Shares of MSFT opened at $497.93 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.72, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $475.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $425.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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 Hims & Hers Slides Nearly 7% as Legal Pressure Adds to Its Growing List of Risks Paychex Plunges, Providing the Entry Investors Have Been Waiting For The Case for Buying High-Yield General Mills Just Strengthened SanDisk’s $1,800 Breakout Turns Memory Hardware Into a Profit Story

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Jacob Andreou, the Microsoft executive vice president who leads Copilot, presents the app’s new Home, Code and Autopilot sections at a company event this week. (Microsoft Photo) Microsoft on Friday morning unveiled its long-promised Copilot “super app” — without officially calling it that — combining AI chat, coding and long-running agents into a unified app for business and personal use.

The new version of the Copilot app adds sections called Home, which combines chat with Microsoft’s Cowork agent; Code, which lets people build their own apps and tools by describing them; and Autopilot, where people can set up their own always-on AI agents.

It also brings full versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint inside Copilot, so people can create and edit documents with AI and their co-workers without switching apps.

The announcement is Microsoft’s answer to OpenAI and Anthropic, which have been combining chat, coding and agents in their own apps and selling them directly to businesses that have long been Microsoft’s core customers. Microsoft also uses models from both companies in Copilot, alongside its own.

Partners and rivals: Microsoft executives contrasted the company’s approach with OpenAI and Anthropic during an event Wednesday, according to a transcript provided by Microsoft. The pitch is aimed at corporate IT departments, which have long relied on Microsoft for security and compliance.

Jacob Andreou, the executive vice president who leads Copilot, said Microsoft knew that “unlike a lot of our competition, sending your most sensitive files down to a local machine into a VM was a complete nonstarter” — an apparent reference to Anthropic’s Claude Cowork, which runs in a virtual machine on the user’s computer.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pitched Copilot as a hedge against relying on any one AI lab, saying companies should be able to test models against their own benchmarks and swap one out for another.

“My test of true independence going forward is for you to have a private eval that you can hill climb on and substitute a model,” he said. Translation: a “private eval” is a company’s own set of tests for AI models, and “hill climb” is a phrase in vogue in AI circles for steadily improving results against those tests.

A company that can’t do those things, he added, has effectively handed the knowledge it builds with AI “to somebody else.”

Model choice: Microsoft also emphasized the ability to switch between AI models from different companies. A menu shown during the presentation let users pick OpenAI’s GPT or Anthropic’s Opus, or an Auto mode that chooses a model for each request.

Microsoft also showed its own MAI models alongside OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI on one of Nadella’s slides, although they weren’t listed in the menu shown during the demo.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at a company event this week, where Microsoft showed its new all-in-one Copilot app to customers ahead of Friday’s public announcement. In a post this morning, he called it a “new OS for work.” (Microsoft Photo) The rollout: Nadella first promised the super app at Microsoft’s Build developer conference in June, saying that “come summer” the company would bring “coding to all knowledge work within one Copilot super app.” On Microsoft’s July 29 earnings call, he told investors it would arrive “this quarter,” which ends Sept. 30.

Friday’s announcement meets that deadline with less than a week to spare, and most of the new features won’t be widely available until later.

Code, already in the hands of a few customers in Microsoft’s Frontier early-access program, rolls out more widely to the program at the end of the month, with broad availability in the coming weeks and a preview for Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro subscribers later this year. Autopilot expands to private preview at the end of the month. Office in Copilot will roll out to consumers and Frontier customers in the coming weeks. Office inside Copilot: Copilot has long run inside Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Now the full apps also run inside Copilot. “This is not just some simplified viewer,” Andreou said.

In a demo, a Microsoft product manager had Copilot pull data into an Excel workbook, accepted her team’s tracked changes in a Word document, and then had Copilot turn both into a PowerPoint deck without leaving the app. Co-workers can edit the same files at the same time from the regular Office apps, according to Microsoft.

How it’s priced: Copilot now has two ways to pay. A per-user monthly license covers everyday uses such as chat and Copilot features in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. More intensive agent work, including Cowork, Code and Autopilot, is billed based on usage, as are the newest frontier models, OpenAI’s Astra and Anthropic’s Claude Fable.

“Our view is that there are two kinds of AI at work,” said Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer for AI at Work, in a recorded briefing for media. “They call for two very different ways of paying, and Copilot offers both.”

Consumer Microsoft 365 subscriptions will also add usage-based billing later this year for Cowork, Code and other new features, Spataro said.

Nadella told investors in July that Microsoft is evolving its business model “beyond per-seat to per-seat-plus-consumption.” Usage-based services are off by default, and administrators can set spending limits for an entire company, specific groups or individual users through Microsoft’s Agent 365 management tools.

From OpenClaw to Autopilot: Autopilot grew out of Microsoft’s experiments with OpenClaw, the open-source personal AI agent that went viral earlier this year. In March, Nadella described OpenClaw as a security risk akin to “a virus.”

By June, Microsoft had introduced Scout, an always-on personal agent for work that it called the first of its Autopilots. Nadella told investors in July that the agent was “powered by OpenClaw.” The new Copilot drops the Scout name, and people instead create and name their own Autopilots.

In his presentation this week, Andreou pitched Autopilot as the answer to the concerns that have kept agents like OpenClaw out of big companies.

“The hallmark of an amazing, long-running agent is autonomy and flexibility,” he said. “That is the same thing that makes them absolutely terrifying to an IT admin.”

Each Autopilot runs in the cloud inside a company’s Microsoft 365 environment, with its own identity, memory and email address, and people can tag it in Teams or Outlook like a co-worker.

In a demo, a Microsoft employee playing the role of a regional manager at a retail chain gave his Autopilot, named Dot, one goal: make sure stores had inventory in time for Black Friday. It chose which Teams channels, email threads and inventory data to monitor, sent him a daily summary, and flagged a shipment problem that could affect 18 stores.

The adoption question: Microsoft reported more than 30 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats in July, up from 20 million in April. That’s still only about 7% of the more than 450 million commercial Microsoft 365 seats the company reported in January.

The new Copilot comes three weeks after Microsoft reorganized its financial reporting around a similar idea, creating a segment called Agents and Infra and moving GitHub’s cloud revenue into its Microsoft 365 business.

“It’s no longer about building or selling one app or service, but about connecting the entire trajectory of a ‘job to be done,'” Nadella wrote in a note to investors about the change at the time.

Microsoft 365 cloud revenue, which covers business and consumer subscriptions including Copilot and now GitHub, reached $100.3 billion in fiscal 2026 under the new structure, up about 19%. Microsoft doesn’t disclose how much of that comes from Copilot.

“None of these things really matter unless they actually go to work inside of your companies and deliver real value,” Andreou said.

Microsoft plans to share more at its Ignite conference, Nov. 17-20 in San Francisco.

Microsoft on Friday unveiled several new capabilities in its Copilot app, including a coding tool and ​an always-on AI agent, as the software giant seeks to transform ‌its AI assistant into a one-stop shop for office workers.

The company (MSFT.O) is also embedding its Office applications Word, Excel, and PowerPoint directly within Copilot, allowing users to work collaboratively ​on these apps without having to leave the AI tool.

Shares of ​the Redmond, Washington-based company rose about 3% in early trading.

Microsoft ⁠is racing to expand Copilot beyond its chat-based roots to boost adoption ​as it competes with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Claude.

The Windows maker ​unveiled "Code" to let users build apps, dashboards and other software using natural language prompts. The tool, powered by the same technology as Microsoft's GitHub Copilot, will roll out to early-access ​customers at the end of the month, while 365 Premium and Pro ​subscribers can preview it later this year.

Microsoft is also rolling out "Autopilot", a revamp of the "Scout" ‌AI ⁠agent it unveiled in June, in a private preview at the end of the month. The so-called digital coworker agent will carry its own identity in the company directory and have specific permissions that users can control.

"I think it's ​been very hard ​for many organizations ⁠to bring agents into the enterprise because of security, compliance and governance concerns," Annie Pearl, corporate vice president of ​Copilot Product, said in an interview.

"So we've worked... to make ​sure ⁠that we were building this in a way that would really be able to be used in the enterprise."

Microsoft also unveiled cost-management capabilities to allow employees to ⁠have ​direct insight into costs tied to their AI ​usage. The move comes at a time when enterprises are increasingly worried about rapid AI usage ​racking up unexpected costs.

Freedom Day Solutions LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 23.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,025 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,241 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.4% of Freedom Day Solutions LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Freedom Day Solutions LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position 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 valued at $85,604,000 after purchasing an additional 8,773 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in 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 period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 138.8% during 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 buying an additional 788,297 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.5% MSFT stock opened at $497.93 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $475.48 and its 200 day moving average is $425.54. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

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

Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism is increasing. Stifel upgraded Microsoft to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $575, citing Azure and Copilot growth, durable margins, and a path for AI spending to produce stronger revenue. Jefferies also reaffirmed its Buy rating, while other analysts highlighted potential upside. Why These Wall Street Analysts Think Microsoft Stock Is Getting Back on Track Positive Sentiment: Azure demand remains the central growth catalyst. Reports point to a roughly $678 billion backlog and the need for Microsoft to add data-center capacity quickly enough to serve existing customers. Azure Red Hat OpenShift for Azure Government also received DoD Impact Level 5 certification, expanding its use among government and highly regulated customers. Azure Red Hat OpenShift Achieves IL5 Certification Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding its AI infrastructure footprint. The company plans to invest more than $10 billion in Gulf-region cloud, AI, connectivity and cybersecurity infrastructure through 2030, potentially supporting long-term regional demand. Microsoft Plans Gulf Investment Analysts Set New Price Targets MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Argus dropped their target price on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Forty-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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $569.29.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Microsoft

Insider Transactions at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This 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 worth $71,420,699 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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 Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Hims & Hers Slides Nearly 7% as Legal Pressure Adds to Its Growing List of Risks Paychex Plunges, Providing the Entry Investors Have Been Waiting For The Case for Buying High-Yield General Mills Just Strengthened SanDisk’s $1,800 Breakout Turns Memory Hardware Into a Profit Story

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Legacy Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 15.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,656 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,109 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.3% of Legacy Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Legacy Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 9.9% in the second quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,060 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,245,000 after buying an additional 1,271 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.2% during the second quarter. Greenwood Gearhart LLC now owns 114,410 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,677,000 after buying an additional 7,673 shares during the last quarter. Opus Financial Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.7% during the second quarter. Opus Financial Solutions LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,069,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 15.2% during the second quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 6,364 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,374,000 after buying an additional 840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 108,104 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $40,325,000 after acquiring an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.5% Microsoft stock opened at $497.93 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.72, a PEG ratio of 1.60 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $475.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $425.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. 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 analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current year. Microsoft Increases Dividend The firm 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 a boost 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%.

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

Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism is increasing. Stifel upgraded Microsoft to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $575, citing Azure and Copilot growth, durable margins, and a path for AI spending to produce stronger revenue. Jefferies also reaffirmed its Buy rating, while other analysts highlighted potential upside. Why These Wall Street Analysts Think Microsoft Stock Is Getting Back on Track Positive Sentiment: Azure demand remains the central growth catalyst. Reports point to a roughly $678 billion backlog and the need for Microsoft to add data-center capacity quickly enough to serve existing customers. Azure Red Hat OpenShift for Azure Government also received DoD Impact Level 5 certification, expanding its use among government and highly regulated customers. Azure Red Hat OpenShift Achieves IL5 Certification Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding its AI infrastructure footprint. The company plans to invest more than $10 billion in Gulf-region cloud, AI, connectivity and cybersecurity infrastructure through 2030, potentially supporting long-term regional demand. Microsoft Plans Gulf Investment Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Barclays cut their price objective on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Mizuho cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $569.29.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft

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.

See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Hims & Hers Slides Nearly 7% as Legal Pressure Adds to Its Growing List of Risks Paychex Plunges, Providing the Entry Investors Have Been Waiting For The Case for Buying High-Yield General Mills Just Strengthened SanDisk’s $1,800 Breakout Turns Memory Hardware Into a Profit Story 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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RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Red Hat, the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that Microsoft Azure Red Hat OpenShift for Microsoft Azure Government has attained Department of Defense (DoD) Impact Level 5 (IL5) certification. With IL5 certification, government agencies and highly-regulated industries can now use Azure Red Hat OpenShift as a platform for building, deploying and running containerized applications at scale while simultaneously addressing key securi.

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Microsoft executive Brad Smith Bloomberg/Getty Images Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella has a new plan for who will oversee the company's public announcements, according to an internal memo viewed by Business Insider.

President Brad Smith will be in charge of the company's communications department, previously overseen by Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto.

This will hand oversight of corporate communications to an executive who has become the public face of Microsoft's positions on regulation, geopolitics, AI governance, and other issues shaping the company's global expansion.

Frank Shaw, Microsoft's current chief communications officer, recently announced plans to leave the company at the end of the year. Microsoft hasn't named a replacement for Shaw but Nadella said Brent Colburn, vice president for global public affairs, will become interim communications leader.

"Few leaders embody Microsoft's voice as authentically as Brad," Nadella wrote in the memo. "He brings a deep understanding of our business, a strong connection to our stakeholders, and a rare ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity, conviction, and trust."

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Smith has built a reputation as "the statesman of the technology industry". That role is especially crucial for Microsoft as the company navigates challenges related to expanding its data centers and AI footprint.

Read the memoSubject: Evolving our communications Communications has never been more important to Microsoft. The company is changing, our industry is changing, and the world around us is changing. And in a media environment that is increasingly fragmented and noisier than ever, we need to continue to be grounded in our mission, earn trust each day, and find new ways to connect directly with all of our constituencies.

I first want to thank Frank for everything he has done for Microsoft. He has made tremendous contributions to the company and to our communications function over the last 17+ years. And he's been a great source of counsel to our leadership team and to me personally, across the company's biggest moments.

As Frank prepares to embark on his next chapter, Takeshi, Brad, and I have been discussing the evolution of comms at the company. I have asked Brad to lead the communications function going forward. Few leaders embody Microsoft's voice as authentically as Brad. He brings a deep understanding of our business, a strong connection to our stakeholders, and a rare ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity, conviction, and trust.

During this transition, Brent Colburn will continue reporting to Brad and will now act as our interim communications leader. The comms leadership team will report to Brent, and Frank will continue to advise Brad and Brent on the transition.

In many ways, the people closest to the work have the best opportunity to shape how Microsoft is understood. We need to give people across the company the tools and support to do it well. And I'm excited about the opportunity to help our engineers, sellers, partners, and others closest to our products and customers become an even bigger part of how we tell our story, all connected by a shared strategy and set of principles. All of you have a critical role to play in making that possible.

We have an exciting fall ahead, with a number of important moments and events coming up and great marketing behind them. It is a real opportunity to bring together our product story, our marketing, and our communications in new ways.

We will learn, we will experiment, and we will evolve. There is a fundamentally new way to think about communications, and this team will be central to building it.

Thank you for everything you do for Microsoft, and for the role you each play in telling our story.

Satya

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Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 135,630 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,048 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.5% of Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $50,593,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 9,814,598 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% in 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 during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 64.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 9,493,778 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research downgraded Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” 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. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Forty-three investment 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $569.29.

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

Positive Sentiment: Stifel upgraded Microsoft to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $575 from $530. The analyst expects Azure, Copilot and other AI services to accelerate revenue while Microsoft maintains resilient margins without needing excessive spending on AI models. Microsoft upgraded as analyst sees steady margins Positive Sentiment: Microsoft plans to invest more than $10 billion in the Gulf through 2030, funding cloud and AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, connectivity and workforce development across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. The spending expands Azure’s international capacity and could create long-term commercial opportunities. Microsoft plans Gulf investment Positive Sentiment: AI monetization remains the central bullish thesis. Microsoft is pursuing broader Copilot adoption, including discounts of roughly 30% to 50% for large enterprise customers, while management highlights independent AI safety evaluators and software that controls AI agents as emerging opportunities. Microsoft plans larger Copilot discounts Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft and Coinbase disrupted an AI-enabled phishing network, reinforcing Microsoft’s cybersecurity credentials. However, the operation does not eliminate the persistent economic incentive for criminals to compromise accounts. Microsoft cuts AI phishing supply chain Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s collaboration with Photonic on quantum-computing resource estimation and its decision to give DARPA access to its Majorana 2 system enhance its technology and government relationships, but these projects are unlikely to affect near-term earnings. Microsoft opens quantum system to DARPA testing Negative Sentiment: Xbox is cutting 268 positions and transferring the next Halo game to Activision as part of a gaming restructuring. The move may improve efficiency but raises concerns about Microsoft’s gaming execution and follows recent layoffs. Microsoft cuts Xbox roles Negative Sentiment: Broader technology stocks weakened, while scrutiny of data-center water consumption and Microsoft’s heavy AI infrastructure spending adds to concerns about costs, regulation and execution. Insider Buying and Selling In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5% Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $500.59 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $473.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $424.91. The company has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. 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 one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72.

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 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 firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 EPS 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 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%. 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 21.83%.

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.

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