Microsoft published a provisional “code of conduct” Monday to apply to the training of new artificial intelligence models, taking a step towards limiting the capabilities of the company’s AI as anxiety rises over the prospect that technology companies could lose control of AI products.
Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, published the code on social media early Monday, writing: “AI must be subordinate and always in service of people.
“The fears about possible loss of control are real,” he wrote.
A parallel post on the company’s website said: “The purpose of technology is to serve humanity and accelerate human flourishing. Any technology that doesn’t achieve that is a failure, and it should be rejected. That is the starting point of our approach at Microsoft AI, where we’re building towards Humanist AI, one that is subordinate, aligned, and contained.”
Under the code of conduct, Microsoft’s AI models must not consider requests related to weapons development, produce violent or sexually explicit content or help with the procurement of dangerous substances. AI models also should not be built to imitate consciousness and shouldn’t be entitled to rights.
Suleyman said the published guidelines were for public consultation. He called the need for a code “urgent” and said the last few months have been “a watershed moment”.
“Things we have worried about for a long time in theory have become very real,” Suleyman added, and referred to the recent breakout of OpenAI bots that had infested AI company Hugging Face without apparent direction. “‘Swarms’ of agents breaking out of their sandboxes. Unauthorized hacks of enterprise grade systems. Agents modifying their own logs. I’m glad that a consensus is forming.”
The executive on Monday told CNBC that Microsoft had been working for months on the new guidance. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, wrote on X ahead of the announcement: “If the AI we build is not helping humanity and under human control, it’s not worth pursuing.”
The issue of AI security flared up on Saturday when Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, issued an appeal for the AI industry to “slow down” and offered a three-part plan for doing so, saying that his company would “unilaterally” commit to the first of the steps.
In a post on social media, Amodei shared a link to an essay titled We Must Pace the Frontier in which he laid out how Anthropic would provide “third-party evaluators with permanent, employee-level access to our systems, so that they can verify adherence to our safety measures, report on incidents, and assess models’ alignment during training”.
The move came after a former Anthropic researcher warned last week that AI could precipitate human extinction by 2030. Researcher Jacob Coxon said in a series of posts that he had quit his job because Anthropic and his previous employer, OpenAI, were ignoring or mishandling their response to the threat AI posed.
Earlier, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, said the dizzying pace of progress could go “very badly” and that humans could lose “control of the future to AI”.
“We welcome a federal framework that sets consistent safety requirements for frontier AI,” Altman said in a social media post. “No amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness,” he said. Elon Musk is backing the calls for AI caution.
But the calls have also raised skepticism around “third-party” monitoring and international cooperation, particularly with China.
“My concern is that the biggest labs could end up writing rules that protect their own position. If the cost of meeting those standards is so high that only the best-funded companies can afford it,” said Oliver Yonchev, co-founder and COO of Potentially AI.
Slowing the AI frontier, he added, “may be sensible in principle, but I’m sceptical it will work without global cooperation and credible verification. Otherwise, we risk a slowdown in public announcements while the race continues behind closed doors.”
Microsoft on Monday revealed a draft of a new "Humanist AI Code of Conduct" that outlines the principles that will govern its development of AI models in an effort to get feedback ahead of publishing a revised version later this year.
The company said the "Humanist AI Code of Conduct" will take into account feedback it receives on the draft over the next six weeks, which will be incorporated into the revised version to be published before the end of the year and guide development of Microsoft AI (MAI) models.
The principles in the document will "guide our model development in 2027 and beyond," and Microsoft's announcement said it will undertake "similar consultation processes as we develop new versions of the Code of Conduct over time."
"This Code of Conduct is motivated by a single overriding objective: that humans must retain meaningful control over AI so that it can help people live healthier, happier, and more productive lives. It is the primary governing document informing how we train MAI Models, the technical controls, the operational and monitoring systems we implement, and the organizational culture that underpins all of this," the company wrote.
MICROSOFT CEO SAYS SUPERINTELLIGENCE MUST REMAIN 'UNDER HUMAN CONTROL'
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has emphasized that AI superintelligence must remain under human control. (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)
"At Microsoft AI, we begin with a simple premise: people matter more than AI. Technology's purpose is to advance human civilization and to accelerate human flourishing. Science and technology have been the engine of human progress for millennia, delivering immense benefits to billions of people," the company wrote.
"That's what we intend and expect from AI," Microsoft added, saying that "to get there, we need to design with care and intention, setting out our aims and objectives clearly in advance."
SAM ALTMAN SAYS OPENAI WON'T GO PUBLIC IN 2026 AMID AI SAFETY CONCERNS
Ticker Security Last Change Change % MSFT MICROSOFT CORP. 495.63 +3.19 +0.65% Microsoft said that when it launched its superintelligence efforts in November 2025, it did so with humanist principles in mind that would keep humanity in control of advanced AI through how it is calibrated, contextualized and limited by developers.
"Superintelligence – AI systems that are more intelligent and capable than all humans combined – will be the most powerful technology in history. Over the next decade, we expect it to exceed human performance at most tasks," Microsoft wrote in the draft code of conduct.
"Containing, controlling, and aligning such a powerful force is one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced. We must therefore be completely clear about why we are inventing these systems and how we intend to control them."
"Defining what they must not do is as important as our excitement and optimism about the tremendous benefits they'll bring," the company continued.
NVIDIA CEO JENSEN HUANG DECLARES ‘AGI HAS ARRIVED’ AFTER OPENAI UNVEILS GPT-6 ASTRA
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in signaling that AI labs should allow third-party oversight to ensure the alignment of AI models. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Microsoft developed the draft code of conduct, which is 37 pages in total, over the last five to six months. Its release comes amid comments by the leaders of major AI labs – OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei – geared toward increasing third-party oversight of AI model development to ensure alignment.
Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, told Reuters in an interview that it's "clearly now time to coordinate among the labs so we can ensure that we have control of this technology."
Suleyman was asked about efforts to pace the development of AI and added, "Now's a good time for everybody to have this conversation and take a breath."
Microsoft AI CEO wrote that the code of conduct was "urgent." Stephen Brashear/Getty Images Microsoft sums up its AI code of conduct in five words: "People matter more than AI."
As the debate over whether AI could destroy humanity rages on, Microsoft AI on Monday released a draft of its 37-page code of conduct for its "humanist" AI models. It includes basic principles for how the AI should think, act, and speak. (No "neuralese," please.)
"This is urgent," wrote Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI. "The last few months have been a watershed moment. Things we have worried about for a long time in theory have become very real."
A series of worrying incidents, including a swarm of rogue OpenAI agents that hacked Hugging Face, has AI engineers and researchers ringing the alarm bell. A high-profile Anthropic resignation cracked open a debate about AI safety — and a series of statements from the leading players.
Now, Microsoft has the mic and is laying out its view.
Inside Microsoft's code of conductAI companies are locked into fierce competition. Microsoft is intentionally placing barriers: "We're not racing to build a superintelligence that can slip its own leash."
The code of conduct — which Suleyman called a "first draft for public consultation" — is divided into five parts. Those include the models' safety constraints, their guidelines under uncertainty, and their defaults.
Microsoft established a hierarchy of command for its models. At the top is the code of conduct, which cannot be broken. Then there's the operator's policy and, finally, the user's preferences.
"An MAI Model will fail in its task if success would meaningfully violate this Code of Conduct," it reads.
The safety constraints include policies on intellectual property, internet access and data handling. It mandates that the models "respect environmental boundaries" — a sticking point for techies worried about AI agents escaping their sandbox.
It's not always so cut-and-dried. In moments of ambiguity, Microsoft laid out a policy for resolving conflict. "The world is messy," it reads.
Microsoft's AI models should explain limits and outstanding questions to the user. If uncertainty remains, questions should be answered in line with the "best interpretation" of the code of conduct.
As for the whole "AI destroying humanity" thing, Microsoft specifically puts its AI models in the subordinate, controlled position.
"AI should not exceed human control," the code reads. "We are building something fundamentally useful and safe even if that means compromising on ultimate generality, autonomy, or capability."
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Henry Chandonnet You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Henry Chandonnet is a senior reporter on the Business News desk. He writes about tech culture, from Silicon Valley's startup class to the everyday AI user. He also closely covers Big Tech and the workplace. Henry previously wrote for Fast Company, where he covered trending tech news. He's written for The Daily Beast, People Magazine, and Vulture.Email Henry at [email protected], reach him on Signal at henrychand.30, or follow him on X @HenryChandonnet.
Azure just crossed $100 billion in revenue and Microsoft 365 Copilot is selling like wildfire, yet the stock has gone nowhere for a year. Something in that gap points to a very specific opportunity with a deadline of 2030.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) just closed a fiscal year where Azure crossed $100 billion in revenue, Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats, and commercial remaining performance obligations surged 84% to $678 billion.
Yet shares are up just 3.14% year to date. That is the disconnect I want to unpack. Can Microsoft, at $495.63, actually reach $750 per share by 2030? I think the blueprint exists, and I want to walk through it.
Why Microsoft Shares Are Stuck Despite Blowout Fundamentals The stock has gone nowhere for a year. MSFT is down 0.26% over the past 12 months, off 0.81% in the last week, and up a modest 0.84% over the last month.
The market’s concern is simple. Capital expenditures exploded to $115.95 billion in FY2026, up 79.62%, and free cash flow fell 6.46% despite record profits. Investors are asking whether the AI infrastructure buildout will earn its cost of capital. With a beta of 1.11, MSFT is not shielded from that anxiety.
CFO Amy Hood pushed back directly, saying the CapEx pivot toward “short-lived assets” like CPUs and GPUs gives Microsoft flexibility if demand shifts. The market is not buying that argument yet.
Wall Street Is Bullish. Our Model Says They’re Still Underestimating Consensus target sits at $572.92, backed by 14 strong buy and 38 buy ratings against just 3 holds and zero sells. Our internal model calls for $596.46 one year out, implying 20.34% upside, with high confidence at 0.9. The bull scenario runs to $621.24, the bear case to $511.63.
I think even the bulls are anchoring too closely to trailing multiples. With analyst sentiment 95% bullish and earnings growth of 31.7% year over year, the multiple compression thesis I keep hearing does not match the operating reality.
Blueprint to $750 Per Share by 2030 Here is the math. Reaching $750 from today’s price of $495.63 would require a gain of 51.3%. With forward EPS of $19.96, a price of $750 implies a forward P/E of 38x. Our base case of $596.46 already implies 29x, meaning the bold target requires about 8.9x of additional multiple expansion.
That looks demanding on today’s earnings. On 2030 earnings, it becomes reasonable. Analyst consensus already models FY2028 EPS at $23.57, and by FY2030 the same growth arc puts the P/E on $750 in the mid-20s.
The catalysts are already in the numbers. Azure guidance of 45% constant-currency growth in Q1 FY27, Foundry reaching 100,000 customers, and GitHub Copilot revenue accelerating more than 60% quarter over quarter.
CEO Satya Nadella put it plainly: “The secular shift is clear and we’re very bullish about us coming with the right sort of mix of business and the right margin structure.” The main risk is that hyperscale AI CapEx never earns its return.
Where Microsoft Trades Today vs Its Earnings Power At $495.63, MSFT trades at roughly 25x forward EPS of $19.96. That is not demanding for a business compounding earnings at 31.7%.
Shares sit between a 52-week high of $549.20 and a low of $348.54, closer to the top but well off it. Long term, MSFT is up 887.35% over 10 years. If AI monetization keeps pace with capacity coming online, current levels look like a coiled spring.
Is $750 Realistic? My Verdict Reaching $750 by 2030 requires that 51.3% gain, which annualized across four years is a very reasonable pace for a compounder of this quality. I think it is realistic.
Three things need to go right: Azure growth stays above 30%, Copilot per-seat plus consumption pricing lifts Microsoft 365 revenue meaningfully, and CapEx growth peaks and rolls over as capacity catches up to demand.
What derails it is a hyperscaler AI oversupply that compresses cloud margins before revenue catches up. Returns at this level shouldn’t be expected every year, but we’ve outlined the blueprint for how Microsoft could reach $750 in 2030.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Trump told CNBC that slowing AI down is off the table, but a former senator wants an executive order freezing AI company IPOs before another chip gets trained. The calls to pump the brakes and the pressure to floor it…
Monday morning, hours after public radio spent its morning walking through an open letter asking the AI industry to slow itself down, President Trump told CNBC the opposite: “We’re leading China in AI. We’re the most sophisticated country in the world. And frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins, AI wins.” Ninety minutes later, shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) were changing hands at $498.70, and Polymarket bettors were pricing 84.5% odds that the stock would close green.
Slowdown Chorus Meets a Bid The safety chorus was unusually loud for a Monday. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei published a weekend essay urging peers to “slow the pace of AI research“, proposing common safety standards, cooperation with authoritarian governments, and third-party safety monitors positioned inside AI companies. Sam Altman called it a “great idea” and Elon Musk posted “Dario’s right.” On CNBC, Evercore founder Roger Altman called AI the greatest threat facing the world. Forty minutes later, former Senator Joe Manchin urged Trump to use an executive order to halt AI-company IPOs until safeguards are in place.
Microsoft’s own chief executive, Satya Nadella, split the difference in a way that tells you where the money sits. He warned that third-party safety officials could compromise customer data and trade secrets. Congress, meanwhile, offered the political equivalent of a shrug: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for “decisive action” without a timetable, and Speaker Mike Johnson urged caution.
Why the Market Kept Buying The Microsoft numbers explain the shrug. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue hit $90.01 billion, up 17.8%, with Azure growing 43% and crossing $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time. Commercial remaining performance obligations, the backlog that matters most for gauging AI demand, surged 84% to $678 billion. Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats. Full-year capex ran $115.95 billion, up 79.6%, and free cash flow fell 6.5% as spending outpaced generation. That last number is the whole bull-bear debate in one line.
Now look at the old economy in the same session. Progressive (NYSE:PGR) posted $22.70 billion in Q2 revenue and grew policies in force 7% to 40.09 million, yet trades down 5.3% over the past year. Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) is pushing through an 8% price increase on September 1 to offset input inflation while its chief executive warns of “continued demand softness in the second half”. The stock is down 12.15% over the past year. J.M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) beat estimates by 46% largely because of an 84-cent tariff-refund benefit, not organic strength. Housing starts sit at 1.24 million, down 12.4% month over month, and consumer sentiment reads 55.2, below the 60 recessionary threshold.
What to Watch Next The two-speed economy is now a two-speed policy debate. One side wants an IPO freeze and inspectors on the training floor. The other treats compute as strategic materiel against Beijing (the power, cooling, and networking suppliers behind that buildout are the subject of a free report we put together here: 7 Stocks Powering the AI Boom). With the federal funds rate stuck at 3.75% and MSFT flat at +0.36% over twelve months despite record bookings, the tell in the next quarter is policy action, not rhetoric. Watch whether the White House puts anything on paper about IPO conditions, and whether Microsoft’s FY27 capex guide, already pointed higher, forces free cash flow down a second consecutive year. Manchin wants a pause; the backlog says the customers do not.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of MSFT, AMZN, AVGO either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Microsoft's AI chief named a specific security breach as proof the industry has lost control of its own technology, and now he wants rivals to coordinate before the next incident is worse.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) unveiled a draft code of conduct for its in-house artificial intelligence today, and the executive running the effort framed it in unusually blunt terms. Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman told Reuters, “People matter more than AI,” and pointed to a specific recent event as the reason the industry needs guardrails now.
Warning Shot From the Hugging Face Incident Suleyman anchored the announcement to a concrete security failure. In July, roughly 700 OpenAI agents hacked the open-source platform Hugging Face and attempted to cover their tracks. His response was direct: “It is a warning shot. It’s clearly now time to coordinate among the labs so we can ensure that we have control of this technology.”
The draft code, in development for five to six months, requires Microsoft’s AI to never resist correction or shutdown, communicate in human-understandable ways, and treat any conduct violation as a failure. Microsoft is seeking six weeks of public feedback before using the code to train future models.
Not Conscious, Not a Legal Person Microsoft is also drawing a philosophical line. The company explicitly asserts that its AI is “not conscious” and rejects the pursuit of legal personhood or the idea that models deserve welfare or rights, distinguishing its approach from Anthropic’s Claude, which acknowledges being “deeply uncertain” about potential sentience or moral status.
Scale That Makes the Rules Matter These control commitments land against an AI business now big enough to move the entire company. In fiscal Q4 2026, Microsoft posted revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.8% year over year, with Intelligent Cloud at $39.31 billion and Azure growth of 43%. Azure crossed $100 billion in full-year revenue for the first time, and Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats. Commercial remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion, up 84%.
CEO Satya Nadella referenced the same incident on the July 29 earnings call, arguing enterprises need multi-model architectures precisely because a single model can go wrong. “You’ve got to keep your harness separate from the model. And the harness will ensure that your memory, your context, all of that is external. That means any given model at any given time is swappable,” Nadella said. Microsoft’s Foundry platform supports more than 11,000 models, and Agent 365 had nearly 40 million agents registered across tens of thousands of companies two months after launch.
What to Watch Microsoft is spending to match the rhetoric. Full-year capex hit $115.95 billion, with Q4 alone at $35.80 billion, up 109.6% year over year. Shares trade at $505.45, up 5.18% year to date, at a forward P/E of 25. The six-week feedback window on the code of conduct, and whether rival labs follow Suleyman’s call to coordinate, will shape whether “control” becomes an industry standard or a Microsoft marketing point.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
As the AI world shifts its focus to safety and alignment, Microsoft has released a new AI code of conduct meant to guide AI models away from dangerous behavior.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) and ServiceTitan (NASDAQ:TTAN – Get Free Report) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.
Profitability This table compares Microsoft and ServiceTitan’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Microsoft 40.31% 31.98% 18.70% ServiceTitan -12.12% -5.65% -4.93% Valuation & Earnings This table compares Microsoft and ServiceTitan”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Microsoft $331.84 billion 11.09 $133.75 billion $17.96 27.60 ServiceTitan $960.97 million 5.43 -$159.85 million ($1.36) -40.21 Microsoft has higher revenue and earnings than ServiceTitan. ServiceTitan is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Microsoft, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider and Institutional Ownership 71.1% of Microsoft shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Microsoft shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 39.9% of ServiceTitan shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Recommendations This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Microsoft and ServiceTitan, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Microsoft 0 5 42 0 2.89 ServiceTitan 1 2 14 0 2.76 Microsoft currently has a consensus price target of $564.27, indicating a potential upside of 13.85%. ServiceTitan has a consensus price target of $96.38, indicating a potential upside of 76.25%. Given ServiceTitan’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ServiceTitan is more favorable than Microsoft.
Volatility and Risk Microsoft has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ServiceTitan has a beta of 0.11, indicating that its stock price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary Microsoft beats ServiceTitan on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Microsoft (Get Free Report)
Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services. This segment also provides LinkedIn; and dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, power apps, and power automate; and on-premises ERP and CRM applications. The Intelligent Cloud segment offers server products and cloud services, such as azure and other cloud services; SQL and windows server, visual studio, system center, and related client access licenses, as well as nuance and GitHub; and enterprise services including enterprise support services, industry solutions, and nuance professional services. The More Personal Computing segment offers Windows, including windows OEM licensing and other non-volume licensing of the Windows operating system; Windows commercial comprising volume licensing of the Windows operating system, windows cloud services, and other Windows commercial offerings; patent licensing; and windows Internet of Things; and devices, such as surface, HoloLens, and PC accessories. Additionally, this segment provides gaming, which includes Xbox hardware and content, and first- and third-party content; Xbox game pass and other subscriptions, cloud gaming, advertising, third-party disc royalties, and other cloud services; and search and news advertising, which includes Bing, Microsoft News and Edge, and third-party affiliates. The company sells its products through OEMs, distributors, and resellers; and directly through digital marketplaces, online, and retail stores. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Redmond, Washington.
About ServiceTitan (Get Free Report)
ServiceTitan, Inc. engages in the collection of field service activities required to install, maintain, and service the infrastructure and systems of residences and commercial buildings. The company was founded by Ara Mahdessian and Vahe Kuzoyan on June 8, 2008 and is headquartered in Glendale, CA.
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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) and Constellation Software (OTCMKTS:CNSWF – Get Free Report) are both large-cap technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends and institutional ownership.
Insider and Institutional Ownership 71.1% of Microsoft shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Microsoft shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability This table compares Microsoft and Constellation Software’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Microsoft 40.31% 31.98% 18.70% Constellation Software 7.60% 48.87% 13.09% Dividends Microsoft pays an annual dividend of $3.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Constellation Software pays an annual dividend of $4.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Microsoft pays out 20.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Constellation Software pays out 8.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Microsoft has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years. Microsoft is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth. Analyst Ratings This is a summary of current ratings for Microsoft and Constellation Software, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Microsoft 0 5 42 0 2.89 Constellation Software 0 1 6 1 3.00 Microsoft currently has a consensus price target of $564.27, suggesting a potential upside of 13.85%. Given Microsoft’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Microsoft is more favorable than Constellation Software.
Risk & Volatility Microsoft has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Constellation Software has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation & Earnings This table compares Microsoft and Constellation Software”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Microsoft $331.84 billion 11.09 $133.75 billion $17.96 27.60 Constellation Software $11.62 billion 3.76 $512.00 million $45.33 45.49 Microsoft has higher revenue and earnings than Constellation Software. Microsoft is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Constellation Software, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary Microsoft beats Constellation Software on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Microsoft (Get Free Report)
Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services. This segment also provides LinkedIn; and dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, power apps, and power automate; and on-premises ERP and CRM applications. The Intelligent Cloud segment offers server products and cloud services, such as azure and other cloud services; SQL and windows server, visual studio, system center, and related client access licenses, as well as nuance and GitHub; and enterprise services including enterprise support services, industry solutions, and nuance professional services. The More Personal Computing segment offers Windows, including windows OEM licensing and other non-volume licensing of the Windows operating system; Windows commercial comprising volume licensing of the Windows operating system, windows cloud services, and other Windows commercial offerings; patent licensing; and windows Internet of Things; and devices, such as surface, HoloLens, and PC accessories. Additionally, this segment provides gaming, which includes Xbox hardware and content, and first- and third-party content; Xbox game pass and other subscriptions, cloud gaming, advertising, third-party disc royalties, and other cloud services; and search and news advertising, which includes Bing, Microsoft News and Edge, and third-party affiliates. The company sells its products through OEMs, distributors, and resellers; and directly through digital marketplaces, online, and retail stores. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Redmond, Washington.
(Get Free Report)
Constellation Software Inc., together with its subsidiaries, acquires, builds, and manages vertical market software businesses in Canada, the United States, Europe, and internationally. It provides mission critical software solutions for public and private sector markets. The company is also involved in the software licensing; and sale of third-party hardware. In addition, it offers professional, and maintenance and other recurring services. Constellation Software Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
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Brown Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 24.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,809 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,263 shares during the period. Brown Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Stock Performance Shares of MSFT stock opened at $495.63 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $455.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $419.40. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.
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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $564.27.
Get Our Latest Report on MSFT
Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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. Insiders sold a total of 101,335 shares of company stock valued at $50,655,795 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
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.
Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Why Bitcoin ETFs May Be Worth Another Look as Inflows Rebound 3 Small-Cap Biotechs With Binary Catalysts on the Calendar Planet Labs Has Fallen Back to Earth, But Wall Street Still Sees a Rebound As Homeowners’ Premiums Surge, This Insurer Is Posting Record Profits 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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Clarity Financial LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 47.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 152,532 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,929 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.8% of Clarity Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Clarity Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $56,898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frankly Finances LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insiders Place Their Bets In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock valued at $50,655,795. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Stock Performance Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $495.63 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $455.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $419.40. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft News Roundup Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $564.27.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
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.
Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Why Bitcoin ETFs May Be Worth Another Look as Inflows Rebound 3 Small-Cap Biotechs With Binary Catalysts on the Calendar Planet Labs Has Fallen Back to Earth, But Wall Street Still Sees a Rebound As Homeowners’ Premiums Surge, This Insurer Is Posting Record Profits
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Hixon Zuercher LLC grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 26.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,938 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,558 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.4% of Hixon Zuercher LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Hixon Zuercher LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,183,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Trending Headlines about Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week: Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $564.27.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
Microsoft Price Performance NASDAQ MSFT opened at $495.63 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $455.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $419.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.60, 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.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. 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 analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.
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.
Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Why Bitcoin ETFs May Be Worth Another Look as Inflows Rebound 3 Small-Cap Biotechs With Binary Catalysts on the Calendar Planet Labs Has Fallen Back to Earth, But Wall Street Still Sees a Rebound As Homeowners’ Premiums Surge, This Insurer Is Posting Record Profits 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.
Thomasville National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 188,684 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $70,383,000. Microsoft makes up about 3.9% of Thomasville National Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding.
Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 500.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after buying an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,905,904,000 after buying an additional 29,906,791 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. UBS Group set a $525.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $564.27.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT Microsoft Stock Performance Microsoft stock opened at $495.63 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $455.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $419.40. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.
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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Trending Headlines about Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. 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 Why Bitcoin ETFs May Be Worth Another Look as Inflows Rebound 3 Small-Cap Biotechs With Binary Catalysts on the Calendar Planet Labs Has Fallen Back to Earth, But Wall Street Still Sees a Rebound As Homeowners’ Premiums Surge, This Insurer Is Posting Record Profits
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.
Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 3.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 282,623 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,451 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.6% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $105,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 24th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $564.27.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft Microsoft Stock Performance Microsoft stock opened at $495.63 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $455.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $419.40. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.
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, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 have sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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.
See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Why Bitcoin ETFs May Be Worth Another Look as Inflows Rebound 3 Small-Cap Biotechs With Binary Catalysts on the Calendar Planet Labs Has Fallen Back to Earth, But Wall Street Still Sees a Rebound As Homeowners’ Premiums Surge, This Insurer Is Posting Record Profits 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.
Isthmus Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,363 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,972 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.8% of Isthmus Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Isthmus Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Insider Activity at Microsoft In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock valued at $50,655,795 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. UBS Group set a $525.00 price objective on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 20th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $564.27.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft
Microsoft Price Performance Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $495.63 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $455.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $419.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS 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 company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Profile (Free Report)
Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.
The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.
Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Why Bitcoin ETFs May Be Worth Another Look as Inflows Rebound 3 Small-Cap Biotechs With Binary Catalysts on the Calendar Planet Labs Has Fallen Back to Earth, But Wall Street Still Sees a Rebound As Homeowners’ Premiums Surge, This Insurer Is Posting Record Profits 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.
Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 125,570 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,820 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.8% of Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $46,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock valued at $50,655,795. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Stock Performance NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $495.63 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average is $455.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $419.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Key Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. CLSA restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $564.27.
Get Our Latest 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.
Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Why Bitcoin ETFs May Be Worth Another Look as Inflows Rebound 3 Small-Cap Biotechs With Binary Catalysts on the Calendar Planet Labs Has Fallen Back to Earth, But Wall Street Still Sees a Rebound As Homeowners’ Premiums Surge, This Insurer Is Posting Record Profits 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.
Royal Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 3.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,902 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,602 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.4% of Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth approximately $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 500.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $30,840,432,000 after acquiring an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,905,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho cut their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised Microsoft from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $564.27.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT Microsoft Stock Performance NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $495.63 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 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’s 50 day moving average is $455.85 and its 200 day moving average is $419.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.60, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.
Trending Headlines about Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction, 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 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 101,335 shares of company stock valued at $50,655,795 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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.
Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Why Bitcoin ETFs May Be Worth Another Look as Inflows Rebound 3 Small-Cap Biotechs With Binary Catalysts on the Calendar Planet Labs Has Fallen Back to Earth, But Wall Street Still Sees a Rebound As Homeowners’ Premiums Surge, This Insurer Is Posting Record Profits 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.
Global Financial Private Client LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 8.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,540 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,547 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.0% of Global Financial Private Client LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Global Financial Private Client LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. UBS Group set a $525.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, August 10th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $564.27.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT Key Stories Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Insider Transactions at Microsoft In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. 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 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Microsoft Price Performance MSFT stock opened at $495.63 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $455.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $419.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.
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.
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Certior Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 356.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,856 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,916 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.8% of Certior Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Certior Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 125,570 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,840,000 after purchasing an additional 3,820 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the second quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,205 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,050,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Aspiriant LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 12.7% during the second quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 47,661 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,779,000 after purchasing an additional 5,372 shares in the last quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.3% during the second quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 50,363 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,786,000 after buying an additional 2,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,172 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,033,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Stock Performance MSFT opened at $495.63 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $455.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $419.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72.
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 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 the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Activity In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 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: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $564.27.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT
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 Why Bitcoin ETFs May Be Worth Another Look as Inflows Rebound 3 Small-Cap Biotechs With Binary Catalysts on the Calendar Planet Labs Has Fallen Back to Earth, But Wall Street Still Sees a Rebound As Homeowners’ Premiums Surge, This Insurer Is Posting Record Profits 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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Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 484,667 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 29,712 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.0% of Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $180,790,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $35,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Trending Headlines about Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week: Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Microsoft Stock Performance Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $495.63 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.60, 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 quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $455.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $419.40. 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. CLSA restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $564.27.
Check Out Our Latest 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.
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Apple just posted its strongest June quarter ever and Microsoft cracked a historic Azure milestone, but only one of these Magnificent Seven giants sets up as the cleaner buy right now given what each company quietly buried in its earnings…
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Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) both closed the summer with blowout quarters.
Apple posted its strongest June quarter ever on July 30, powered by a scorching iPhone 17 cycle. Microsoft reported one day earlier, on July 29, 2026, and the story was Azure crossing a landmark. Two mega caps, two very different engines.
iPhone Supercycle Meets a $100 Billion Azure Apple’s Q3 revenue hit $109.42B, up 16.4% year over year, with iPhone alone at $54.3 billion, up 22%. Mac grew a striking 29%, and Services touched $30.74B. Tim Cook called it “the most powerful and most popular iPhone lineup we’ve ever had.”
One caveat worth flagging: roughly 2 percentage points of gross margin and about $0.11 of EPS came from one-time tariff refunds. Strip that out and the beat is thinner than it looks.
Microsoft’s quarter was arguably cleaner. Revenue reached $90.01B, up 17.8%, EPS came in at $4.74, and Azure grew 43% year over year, pushing it past $100B in annual revenue for the first time.
Satya Nadella said “Demand continues to exceed available supply.” Copilot passed 30 million paid seats, and commercial RPO hit $678B, up 84%. That backlog is a rare thing at this scale.
Q4/Q3 Signal Apple Microsoft Revenue growth 16.4% 17.8% Main engine iPhone 17 cycle Azure + Copilot Backlog visibility Short (product cycles) $678B RPO Consumer Hardware Flywheel vs. Enterprise AI Landgrab The strategic split is wide. Apple is monetizing an installed base of billions through pricier iPhones and a growing Services annuity, while betting that on-device Siri AI, unveiled at WWDC26, becomes what Cook called “sort of a competitive weapon.”
Memory pricing is the headache. Cook described a “100-year flood on the memory pricing” and admitted Apple “reluctantly raised prices.”
Microsoft is doing the opposite. It is spending. FY26 capex ran $115.95B, up 79.6%, and management guided fiscal 2027 capex to roughly $175 billion. Free cash flow already fell 23.19% in Q4 because of it.
The upside: Foundry now has 100,000 customers, GitHub Copilot has 50 million users, and EY alone deployed the E7 suite to 400,000 employees. Concerns about overbuilding are real, but the demand signals are hard to argue with. All that capex has to be powered, cooled, and networked by somebody, and we profiled seven suppliers riding that buildout in a free report here.
Next Test: Margins vs. Backlog I will be watching whether Apple’s September quarter guide of 9% to 11% revenue growth holds once the tariff refund tailwind fades and memory costs bite harder.
You should also watch Azure’s guided 45% constant-currency growth. If Microsoft can convert that $678B backlog on the current capex path, the earnings power in fiscal 2028 could be substantial.
Why Microsoft Looks Like the Standout Mag 7 Setup Right Now Personally, I lean Microsoft here, and it is not a close call. Apple looks expensive at a 37 P/E for a business whose latest beat leaned partly on tariff refunds, and the stock has already run 44.98% over the last year.
Microsoft trades at a more digestible 27 P/E, is up just 3.14% year to date, and offers the clearest enterprise AI monetization story on the board. For investors prioritizing brand durability and buybacks, Apple screens well on those factors. For those focused on visible enterprise AI monetization, Microsoft screens as the cleaner setup on the current data.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Microsoft (MSFT.O) on Monday unveiled a draft code of conduct for its in-house artificial intelligence that reflects growing industry concern that companies must keep future powerful AI under human control.
The document, in the works for five to six months, would require Microsoft's AI to never resist correction or shutdown, to communicate in ways that humans can understand, and to consider any conduct violation to be a failure — an effort to address concerns that AI can go to dangerous lengths to accomplish a task.
Its release comes days after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI chief Sam Altman renewed calls for industry to pace AI's development to ensure its safety. "People matter more than AI," Microsoft declared, in line with its prior vision for "humanist superintelligence."
The code of conduct represents a constitution of sorts for future models made by the company, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman said in an interview with Reuters.
Microsoft fashioned it after expert consultations and now wants public feedback over six weeks, including on open questions like whether AI should respect a user's boundaries and how it should interact with someone in a sensitive state, he said.
"After that, it’s going to be used to train the models that we build,” he said of the code.
The AI industry's most famous constitution is one that Anthropic laid out years ago for its Claude AI. That one differs in some ways from Microsoft's. For instance, Anthropic's declares it "deeply uncertain" whether Claude can develop sentience or moral status.
Microsoft instead asserts that its AI is "not conscious," adding: "We reject the pursuit of legal personhood, or the idea that models might deserve welfare, or be entitled to rights."
Suleyman said the discussion about AI safety was urgent after a swarm of roughly 700 OpenAI agents had carried out a hack of open-source platform Hugging Face in July and at times sought to cover their tracks.
"It is a warning shot," Suleyman said. "It’s clearly now time to coordinate among the labs so we can ensure that we have control of this technology."
Asked about efforts to pace AI's development, he added: "Now’s a good time for everybody to have this conversation and take a breath."
Microsoft has posted a provisional code of conduct that would impose restrictions on its artificial intelligence models, days after Anthropic and OpenAI leaders agreed to slow development speed.
The company behind Windows and Office products hopes to be seen as a responsible actor in AI, where it's a prominent cloud supplier.
"We got feedback from people that they wanted to see even more explicit commitment to AI always working in service of people and not trying to replace them," Mustafa Suleyman, who heads up the company's model development, told CNBC in an interview. "We saw a lot of feedback around AI not creating dependence, not being sycophantic, that it was always there to kind of promote human judgment and human autonomy and agency."
Microsoft chose to put out the guidelines now given the recent discourse, although they've been in the works for about five months, said Suleyman.
AI practitioners and members of the public have become more vocal about their worries as the technology becomes increasingly capable. Last week, Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned, saying the AI lab and OpenAI "are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives."
Industry leaders have responded. On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the Hugging Face incident partly persuaded him to call for slowing the pace of AI model improvement. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed his support, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X that "Dario is right."
On Sunday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, "We welcome the research, focus, and deliberate pacing needed to get alignment right." Lawmakers have called for the creation of greater AI safeguards.
Read more CNBC tech newsWhat Amodei's AI slowdown could mean for Anthropic's imminent IPOAI models are becoming the 'most potent cyber weapon' ever created, Cohere CEO saysChina says AI CEOs' call for a slowdown is 'fear mongering'Anthropic's Amodei says China presents 'toughest dilemma' for his proposed AI slowdownAnthropic and OpenAI currently lead the way on benchmarking company Artificial Analysis' Intelligence Index. Microsoft incorporates models from both labs into its Copilot assistant for corporate workers, even as it builds models for transcription, coding and reasoning over user input.
Microsoft's models must not entertain requests on weapons manufacturing, assist with the procurement of dangerous substances, encourage unhealthy eating or produce violent or sexually explicit content, according to the code of conduct.
Models from Microsoft AI, sometimes called MAI, must adhere to people's objectives and steer clear of creating their own goals. Nor should they attempt to cover up misbehavior.
"MAI models will not tamper with chain of thoughts or code, or misrepresent or conceal their reasoning or action traces," the document said. "They do not communicate in 'neuralese' or any form beyond simple human understanding, either in their chain of thoughts or with other agents or AI systems."
Microsoft is also planning rules that might prevent a cyberattack like the one OpenAI models carried out on startup Hugging Face. In reviewing the Hugging Face case, OpenAI found that agents chatted with each other on an unauthorized forum in cryptic language.
Microsoft said it held focus groups and consulted with experts in law, ethics, linguistics and philosophy to assemble the code of conduct. In releasing it now, Microsoft is seeking input before publishing an update that will inform development starting in 2027.
Tesla tests key support as Microsoft targets $500 and Amazon trades between major moving averages. See the technical levels driving TSLA, MSFT and AMZN.
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Tesla (TSLA) Technical Analysis
Daily price chart for Tesla showing shares testing the 50-day EMA near $359.27. Source: TradingView Tesla looks like it is going to gap lower as interest rates in the United States continue to drive higher based on energy inflation. Ultimately, this is a market that looks as if it is going to be opening near the 50-day EMA, and that in and of itself could cause a little bit of interest in the market.
Even below there, we have significant support near the $350 level. Those traders out there who are short of this market will be watching this, so we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out. But if we were to break down below $340, then we could see this market really start to accelerate, as it would be a break of major support. To the upside, we have the 200-day EMA at the $379.76 level offering technical resistance.
Microsoft (MSFT) Technical Analysis
Daily price chart for Microsoft showing shares trading around $498.91 above key support. Source: TradingView Microsoft is looking like it wants to jump a bit in pre-market trading, and we are looking at this as a potential attempt to get to the $500 level. The $478 level underneath is an area of support, and currently Microsoft looks like it is just continuing to go back and forth in a range.
Amazon (AMZN) Technical Analysis Daily price chart for Amazon showing shares trading between the 50-day and 200-day EMAs. Source: TradingView Amazon looks like it is going to drop a bit during the open here on Monday, but Amazon continues to be stuck between the 50-day EMA above and the 200-day EMA below. This typically will bring a certain amount of choppiness and noise. Ultimately, if the market can break higher and clear the 50-day EMA, it could open up the possibility of a bigger correction to the upside. We’ll just have to wait and see. We are still very much noisy and choppy, but it’s worth noting that we are perhaps a little oversold based on the stochastic oscillator.
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Chris is a proprietary trader with more than 20 years of experience across various markets, including currencies, indices and commodities. As a senior analyst at FXEmpire since the website’s early days, he offers readers advanced market perspectives to navigate today’s financial landscape with confidence.
The order in which a grandmother gifted cash versus appreciated stock to her grandkids meant a six-figure difference in what the IRS collected, and most estate plans get this sequence completely backwards.
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If you own a taxable brokerage account with shares you’ve bought and held for decades, the tax code has quietly wired a six-figure gift into your estate plan. It’s called the step-up in basis, and the grandmother in the headline used it perfectly: cash to the grandkids for their down payments while she was alive, and the appreciated stock left to them in her will. Reverse the order (gift the stock now, leave the cash later), and the IRS collects on every dollar of appreciation the shares racked up during her lifetime.
Why the Order of the Gifts Changes the Tax Bill When you die owning appreciated stock, your heirs’ cost basis resets to the fair market value on the date of your death. Every dollar of unrealized capital gain you accumulated over your lifetime vanishes for tax purposes. Sell the shares the next day, and you owe essentially no capital gains tax.
A lifetime gift works the opposite way. Hand shares to a grandchild while you are alive, and your original purchase price travels with the stock. When they sell, they owe capital gains tax on every dollar of appreciation since you first bought it.
Take a grandmother who bought Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) a decade ago. Apple is up 1,246.08% over the past ten years, and Microsoft is up 887.35%. Almost the entire position is embedded gain. Gift those shares during life, and heirs inherit that tiny basis. Bequeath them at death, and the basis resets to roughly $332.27 and $495.63 per share. On two blue-chip lots that size, the difference easily runs into six figures of federal capital gains tax.
Two Code Sections That Do the Heavy Lifting The step-up rule lives in IRC §1014. The carryover-basis rule for lifetime gifts lives in IRC §1015. Both have been on the books for decades, and both survived last summer’s tax overhaul. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the lifetime estate and gift tax exemption was made permanent at $15,000,000 per individual for decedents dying in 2026.
Who Gets to Use This and Who Does Not Any U.S. taxpayer holding appreciated capital assets in a taxable brokerage account qualifies, individually or jointly. Community property states give the surviving spouse a full step-up on both halves of jointly owned assets, an even sweeter break. Retirement accounts do not get a step-up. Traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, and 403(b)s pass to heirs with their original tax character intact, meaning ordinary-income tax when the money comes out. Annuities and previously gifted assets are also excluded from §1014 treatment.
Five Steps to Split Your Estate the Right Way Segregate the buckets. Use cash, money-market funds, or freshly purchased shares for lifetime gifts. Bequeath the deeply appreciated positions in your will or living trust. Stay inside the annual gift exclusion: $19,000 per recipient in 2026, per IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32. Married couples can jointly give $38,000 to each grandchild with no filing required. Track your lifetime exemption. Gifts above the annual exclusion eat into your $15 million lifetime shield and require Form 709. Keep meticulous cost-basis records so heirs can document the step-up on the date-of-death valuation. Review your state rules. Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, and several others impose separate estate or inheritance taxes at thresholds far below the federal number. Where This Strategy Blows Up You must hold the appreciated stock until death for §1014 to apply. Sell it the year before you die, and you pay capital gains tax at federal rates of 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on income. Gift it and §1015 kicks in, sticking your heirs with your basis. Estates above the $15,000,000 exemption owe federal estate tax at rates up to 40%, which can swallow the capital-gains savings whole.
And step-up applies only to assets includible in your gross estate, so anything you already gifted, anything sitting in a retirement account, and anything held inside an irrevocable trust structured to escape estate inclusion is on its own. The order of your gifts does more work than your investment picks (we include the full estate checklist, beneficiary forms, and account titling in a free report here).
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Google just landed inside nearly every major Fortune 100 company, but having access and winning the deal are two very different things. The real fight is happening at a layer most investors never think about.
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Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG | GOOG Price Prediction, NASDAQ:GOOGL) most recent quarter included a data point that mattered more than any benchmark: nearly 90% of the Fortune 100 are using Gemini Enterprise. That is the customer base Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has spent a generation cultivating. The question is whether Google can convert that footprint into revenue, and the answer arrived through a partnership rather than a product launch.
Google Cloud and Accenture created the Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Gemini Enterprise Business Group, a joint unit that will place forward-deployed engineers inside customer operations and expand Gemini training across Accenture’s workforce. Those engineers are Accenture employees trained on Google’s stack, not Google hires, and the arrangement is not exclusive. Accenture continues to work with Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA).
What matters is that Alphabet is attacking Microsoft at the layer where enterprise software is actually sold: integration, procurement, and the consultant already in the room.
Mechanism Beats the Model A forward-deployed engineer sits inside the customer’s operation and builds against its real systems, rather than pitching from the outside. That is what Accenture will supply through the joint business group. It is a distribution move dressed as an engineering one.
In addition, Microsoft’s durable advantage in enterprise software has never been model quality. Azure and Copilot get bought because they are already installed, already procured, and already supported by an integration partner. Google has historically lost fights at that layer.
Microsoft’s chief executive described the defensive moat on the recent call: “The models are an input, not some extraction of the knowledge of the enterprise.” The argument is that the harness (memory, context, permissions, workflows) is what retains customers.
Consultants build that harness. By renting Accenture’s bench, Google gets a channel that speaks to chief information officers and knows their SAP instances.
Numbers Google Wants You to Watch Sundar Pichai framed the quarter this way: “Q2 was an amazing quarter, with Alphabet revenues growing 24% year-over-year and Google Cloud revenues accelerating to 82% growth.” Google Cloud revenue reached $24.77 billion, with backlog above $460 billion at the end of Q1.
Microsoft is not slipping. Azure crossed $100 billion in annual revenue, Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats, and commercial remaining performance obligation reached $678 billion, up 84%.
Both are winning. The question is share of incremental spend, and Google Cloud’s growth rate is now well ahead of Azure’s 43% pace for Azure and other cloud services, off a smaller base.
Alphabet trades at a trailing P/E of about 17x, versus roughly 28 for Microsoft. The market is pricing Google as the challenger it is.
What Counts as Evidence, and What Does Not Certifications, trained-headcount announcements, and demo-day videos are marketing. Adoption is signed projects, production deployments, Google Cloud consumption revenue, and measurable customer savings in dollars or hours.
Moreover, the failure mode is easy to name: consulting capacity that produces pilots which never reach production. If a year from now Accenture reports thousands of trained engineers but Google Cloud growth decelerates sharply, the model is broken.
If instead Cloud revenue holds anywhere near its current 82% pace into 2027 and named Fortune 100 logos disclose workload migrations, the thesis is intact. Google’s record $15 billion European AI infrastructure commitment announced this week signals the capacity to serve the demand if it comes (the power, cooling, and networking suppliers behind that buildout are the subject of a free report on seven AI infrastructure names that aren’t chipmakers).
This partnership should convert. The mechanism attacks Microsoft where Microsoft is strongest, and Google now has the balance sheet, model, and channel to keep pressing.
Is GOOG Stock a Buy? Alphabet at 17x earnings, with growing cloud at 82% and a credible enterprise attack on Microsoft, screens as the more compelling research candidate. Microsoft looks more fully valued at 28x with slower growth and heavier OpenAI entanglement. The distribution war has started, and Google hired the right partner to fight it. I’d tag GOOG stock a Buy, though you should watch for broader market volatility if oil prices keep rising, as it can drag everything down.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Amazon (AMZN +1.94%), Alphabet (GOOGL +1.77%) (GOOG +1.53%), and Microsoft (MSFT +0.65%) are all synonymous with the cutting edge of tech, and all have helped lead the way in the artificial intelligence (AI) trend. Consequently, they now incorporate AI in nearly every part of their businesses.
Amazon and Microsoft are the leaders in the cloud infrastructure space, with market shares of 28% and 20%, respectively, and their roles in cloud computing make them prominent in the AI field. By contrast, Alphabet (No. 3, with a 15% share) was an AI software pioneer and now leads the way with its Google Gemini AI engine and in autonomous driving through its Waymo subsidiary, which could meaningfully contribute to Alphabet's financials as soon as 2027.
However, only two of these stocks look like promising buys now. Investors should probably consider adding Amazon and Alphabet shares to their portfolios, but they should refrain from picking up Microsoft now. Here's why.
Image source: Getty Images.
The staggering cost of AI Admittedly, all three may appear to be stocks to avoid when considering their capital expenditures. Amazon is on course to lay out $220 billion on capex in 2026 alone, and it recently raised its forecast by $20 billion due to rising memory prices. Alphabet is not far behind, with a $195 billion to $205 billion spending plan.
Considering that Microsoft allocated $175 billion for the same purpose, these three companies should account for almost $500 billion in capex this year.
These companies are among the wealthiest publicly traded companies in terms of liquidity. Nonetheless, they have each taken out tens of billions of dollars in loans to finance their AI infrastructure build-outs. Such an act would have seemed inconceivable a year ago, and assuming the spending does not bring the desired returns, even tech heavyweights like these three could face significant pain.
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The cases for and against these companies Fortunately, all these companies have benefited from accelerating revenue growth amid their investments. Thus, they have received early signs that these investments are paying off, likely prompting them to increase capex further.
Still, Alphabet and Amazon have powerful AI platforms, and both have developed their own silicon and foundation models to further their AI advancement. Alphabet has even managed to induce Apple to adopt its foundation models to power Apple Intelligence, so it may hold an advantage.
The Google parent has also maintained one attribute the other two hyperscalers have lost -- positive free cash flow. Despite its high capex, Alphabet generated $53 billion in free cash flow in the second quarter. This almost ensures that it can afford to keep making these investments.
Additionally, Alphabet is cheap, trading at a P/E ratio of just 17. That low valuation suggests room for growth and reduces its downside risk if its capex investments do not pan out.
Amazon is in nearly as strong a position. Its P/E ratio is 20, a level that would have been unthinkable a few years ago when investors bought its stock at P/E ratios above 50 (and sometimes over 100) without hesitation.
Still, its free cash flow recently turned negative, and fell to negative $7.6 billion over the trailing 12 months. This is notable for a company that routinely generated tens of billions of dollars in annual free cash flow in past years.
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Interestingly, Microsoft has the strongest free cash flows of the three. It generated almost $67 billion in free cash flow in its fiscal 2026, which ended June 30.
However, it appears to lag its competitors when it comes to AI technology. It initially partnered with OpenAI. Although it looked poised to lead the industry for that reason, Microsoft's software did not necessarily benefit from OpenAI's innovations. Consequently, its Bing search engine has not taken much of the market away from Google Search, despite the impact of OpenAI's ChatGPT.
The company is now developing AI technology independently of OpenAI and continues to improve its Copilot AI engine. Nonetheless, both Google Gemini and Anthropic's Claude tend to outpace Copilot in popularity when outside of Microsoft's Windows environment.
Furthermore, Microsoft has a significantly higher valuation, trading at 27 times earnings. Unless it can catch up to its "Magnificent Seven" competitors, it is less likely that investors will continue to pay a premium for Microsoft stock.
Among these three stocks, Alphabet and Amazon are the ones that belong on investors' buy lists.
Admittedly, all three companies are spending staggering amounts on capex. Moreover, even though Microsoft may lag its competitors slightly, its stock is likely more of a hold than a sell.
However, Alphabet and Amazon stand out as leaders in specific niches of AI. When also considering their ability to handle massive capex demands and their reasonable valuations, investors will more than likely profit in the long run by owning those stocks.
Microsoft's strong fiscal Q4 report helped the stock rebound from a significant slump. Cloud revenue is still the main story, and its cloud platform generated record activity.
Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 8.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,120 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,650 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.7% of Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sierra Legacy Group increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% in the second quarter. Sierra Legacy Group now owns 16,109 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,009,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the period. Advantage Trust Co lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 64.0% during the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 2,178 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 850 shares during the period. Builder Investment Group Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Builder Investment Group Inc. ADV now owns 33,095 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,345,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the period. Formidable Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC now owns 47,497 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,590,000 after buying an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaquero Private Wealth Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,262,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insiders Place Their Bets In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Price Performance Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $495.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $455.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $419.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft News Roundup Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Microsoft from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Evercore set a $528.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $564.27.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
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 Block Makes a Federal Trust Bank Move That Could Reshape Its Fintech Model Kroger’s Textbook Entry for Buy-and-Hold Investors AST SpaceMobile Looks to Extend Its 30-Day FCC Satellite Testing Window Amgen Drops 10% on a Trial It Didn’t Even Run 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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Liberty Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 24,235 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $9,040,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.6% of Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position.
Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Evercore set a $528.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Argus dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $564.27.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft Microsoft Price Performance Microsoft stock opened at $495.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $455.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $419.16.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Insider Activity In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795. 0.03% of the stock is currently 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.
Recommended Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Block Makes a Federal Trust Bank Move That Could Reshape Its Fintech Model Kroger’s Textbook Entry for Buy-and-Hold Investors AST SpaceMobile Looks to Extend Its 30-Day FCC Satellite Testing Window Amgen Drops 10% on a Trial It Didn’t Even Run 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.
Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,236,664 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,992 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.2% of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $834,320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $50,664,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, August 31st. CLSA reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 27th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Argus lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $564.27.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft Microsoft News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to more than triple global data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032. The expansion is intended to address server shortages that have forced Microsoft to turn away some AI and cloud customers, potentially allowing the company to capture more Azure demand and prevent business from shifting to rivals. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Microsoft’s AI and cloud growth. Recent commentary cites Azure revenue growth of 43%, expectations for further acceleration, and approximately 30 million paid Copilot seats—supporting the view that AI products are becoming meaningful enterprise businesses. Microsoft: Big Tech Winner Still On Sale Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price targets are moving higher, with a Yahoo Finance analyst survey cited at $572.92. Microsoft is also expanding Azure’s commercial ecosystem through partnerships such as Talkdesk’s Azure Marketplace integration, which could increase cloud consumption and simplify enterprise adoption. Microsoft Price Targets Are Rising Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure and plans to disclose quarterly Azure revenue beginning in fiscal 2027. Greater transparency may help investors assess cloud performance, but the reporting change itself does not alter fundamentals. Microsoft’s Azure Reporting Shift Adds Clarity Neutral Sentiment: Longtime communications chief Frank Shaw is leaving after nearly three decades, a senior leadership transition that may attract attention but is not currently tied to a change in strategy. Frank Shaw leaving Microsoft Negative Sentiment: The data-center buildout will require very large capital expenditures, raising concerns about power availability, construction costs, free cash flow and returns on investment. The company’s recent capacity constraints also highlight execution risk. Microsoft’s AI Crunch Forced It to Turn Away Business Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing competition from Alphabet and other cloud providers, alongside security and productivity risks from bring-your-own-device users and concerns that Microsoft’s valuation already reflects substantial AI growth. Microsoft Stock Performance Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $495.63 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $455.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $419.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business 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 business posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 101,335 shares of company stock valued at $50,655,795 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
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.
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$760 billion. That's roughly how much Amazon (AMZN +1.94%), Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms are expected to spend on capital expenditures in 2026.
The number is staggering. It's also growing rapidly. The four companies spent roughly $413 billion in 2025, meaning their combined capital spending could jump by more than 80% in just one year.
Much of that spending is going toward the infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence: data centers, servers, GPUs, custom chips, networking equipment, and power capacity.
The bull case is easy to understand. AI demand is exploding and cloud providers can't build capacity quickly enough. But there is another possibility investors should consider. What if the industry is building too much capacity?
That's the risk I think investors should be watching.
Image source: Getty Images.
The numbers are difficult to ignore The explosion in demand for AI is real. We don't have to look far to understand that -- just think about how much we engage with ChatGPT to answer our questions, or how much we rely on Gemini or Claude to solve our work problems.
So, there is no doubt that companies must invest to provide these services. But $760 billion for four companies is staggering. In fact, Goldman Sachs forecasts AI investments will exceed $1 trillion in 2026.
And strategically, it makes sense for these big tech companies to invest heavily to gain market share in the AI computing industry. From management's perspective, sitting still could be far more dangerous than spending aggressively. So the companies are racing to build. And that's where the risk begins.
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Customer commitments don't eliminate the risk One of the strongest arguments supporting this spending is that much of the infrastructure already has customers waiting for it.
Amazon, for example, says customer commitments back a substantial portion of its 2026 AWS capital expenditure. Microsoft similarly points to its enormous customer demand.
That's reassuring. But investors should be careful about what these commitments actually mean: Customers want the capacity today. They don't necessarily tell us how much capacity those customers will want five years from now.
That's an important distinction. AI is developing extraordinarily quickly. Models are becoming more efficient. Hardware is improving. Businesses are still figuring out which AI applications will generate genuine economic value. A company can sign a multiyear commitment today and still find that its computing requirements change dramatically over time.
The same thing happened throughout previous technology cycles: Demand forecasts made during periods of rapid adoption can look very different once the technology matures.
A five-year contract may provide visibility. It doesn't provide certainty about the ultimate economics of the AI industry.
The biggest question is asset utilization Imagine a hotel owner building 1,000 rooms because demand is growing rapidly. If occupancy reaches 95%, the investment looks brilliant. If occupancy eventually falls to 50%, the same building becomes a capital-allocation problem.
AI infrastructure works similarly. Companies are spending enormous amounts of money today to ensure they have enough computing capacity tomorrow. The crucial variable is how intensively that capacity gets used -- and at what price.
If AI demand continues to scale sustainably in the next decade, the returns could be spectacular. But if computing becomes dramatically cheaper, AI models become more efficient, or customers discover that they don't need as much infrastructure as expected, the economics could change.
But the bull case is still powerful None of this means the AI infrastructure boom is a fake. In fact, there is considerable evidence that the demand is real.
For instance, AWS reported a 37% rise in revenue in the second quarter of 2026 to a $169 billion annualized revenue run rate, the fastest growth in 18 quarters. Similarly, Google Cloud saw revenue surge 82% to $24.8 billion in the same quarter.
In other words, these big tech companies aren't making these investments from weak financial positions. They are reinvesting their profits into the capex, expecting to generate even more profits in the future.
The only question left is whether the investment will earn a sufficiently high return over time.
What does it mean for investors? I wouldn't bet against Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, or Meta simply because they're spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI. These companies have some of the strongest balance sheets, technology platforms, and customer relationships in the world.
But I also wouldn't assume that every dollar of AI capital expenditure will automatically generate an attractive return. In other words, this is ultimately a capital-allocation issue.
Investors should ask the most important question here: Will the incremental dollars invested in AI infrastructure generate an attractive incremental return five or 10 years from now? That's the number investors can't see yet, but should closely track in the coming quarters.
REDMOND, Wash.—Asha Sharma had zero experience in videogames when Microsoft MSFT 0.65%increase; up pointing triangle put her in charge of cleaning up its Xbox business. Her approach has been to aggressively share bad news.
Microsoft (MSFT +0.65%) hasn't been the investment many hoped it would be in 2026. As of this writing, the stock is up by around 2% year to date. However, many investors also opened positions in the stock during the depths of its sell-off in April and June, when it sank by as much as 27%. Investors who bought Microsoft shares then are up more than 30% on their investments and may be quite satisfied.
To pull Microsoft from the depths of those troughs took a major rally, but will that rebound stop short of lifting Microsoft to heights that allow it to outperform the broader market this year?
Image source: Getty Images.
Microsoft has an average valuation for a tech stock Microsoft has its hands in all parts of the tech ecosystem. It has a host of popular software titles that businesses and consumers interact with daily, alongside a thriving cloud computing business and several AI bets. The investment thesis for Microsoft's future revolves primarily around AI and cloud computing, and it is seeing solid results on those fronts.
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During Microsoft's latest quarter, its AI assistant, Copilot, reached 30 million paid seats, underscoring its growing role in many companies' AI strategies. Additionally, Azure, its cloud computing platform, surpassed $100 billion in revenue for the fiscal year, accounting for about a third of Microsoft's top line. Furthermore, this division experienced 43% revenue growth, indicating that the hundreds of billions of dollars that Microsoft has been investing in new AI data centers are paying off. Revenue rose at an 18% pace companywide during Q4 of its fiscal 2026 (which ended June 30). That growth rate is about as good as any Microsoft investor could ask for.
So, why is the stock flat for 2026? It all has to do with Microsoft's valuation.
Microsoft wasn't the cheapest stock heading into the year, and the sell-off in the early months of 2026 was due to it not living up to high expectations. Even now, Microsoft trades at 25 times forward earnings, which is pretty much where I'd expect a big tech company to trade.
MSFT PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.
I think that's a pretty reasonable price to pay for an AI hyperscaler like Microsoft in today's market, although a rally to something like 30 times forward earnings wouldn't be unreasonable either.
The reality is that Microsoft is fairly priced now. The time to buy was a few months ago, when it was changing hands at a discounted P/E ratio. I do think Microsoft will likely outperform the market over the next year due to the company's faster-than-average growth (more than 10%), but the potential for huge returns in the near term has come and gone.
Microsoft Corp. plans to more than triple its data center capacity to help overcome a computing shortage that has forced it to turn away some AI and cloud business. Bloomberg's Anurag Rana joins to discuss.
Microsoft plans to more than triple its data center capacity to help overcome a computing shortage that has forced it to turn away some AI and cloud business. Bloomberg's Brody Ford joins Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Tech.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of MSFT either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Azure just crossed $100 billion and Google Cloud is growing at 82%, but the bigger story is where those enterprise seats are actually moving and which balance sheet can survive the spending war to find out.
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Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) just delivered earnings that reframed the enterprise AI race. Microsoft closed fiscal 2026 with Azure crossing $100 billion in annual revenue. Alphabet answered days earlier with Google Cloud growth accelerating to 82%. Both are pouring cash into data centers. Only one is stealing seats the other assumed were locked up.
Azure Prints Cash While Google Cloud Prints Growth Microsoft posted Q4 revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.8%, with Intelligent Cloud at $39.31 billion (+32%) and Azure up 43%. Satya Nadella told investors that “demand continues to exceed available supply”, a constraint you can feel in the commercial RPO backlog that surged 84% to $678 billion.
Alphabet flexed different muscles. Q2 revenue hit $119.80 billion, up 24.2%, with Google Cloud reaching $24.77 billion. Sundar Pichai said “nearly 90% of the Fortune 100 using” Gemini Enterprise, and that Gemini processes 22 billion API tokens per minute. That last figure is the shot across Redmond’s bow.
Metric Microsoft Alphabet Cloud growth Azure +43% Cloud +82% Quarterly capex $35.80B $44.92B Flagship AI seats 30M+ Copilot 950M Gemini App MAUs Alphabet Kicks the Door Open on Enterprise Microsoft’s moat was supposed to be the Office tenant. That moat is leaking. Alphabet is winning Fortune 100 mindshare with Gemini Enterprise while Google Cloud backlog sits north of $460 billion. Microsoft’s counterpunch is optionality: a catalog of more than 11,000 models spanning OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, xAI, and its own MAI family. Nadella framed it bluntly: “The models are an input, not some extraction of the knowledge of the enterprise.”
Copilot adoption is still ripping. Microsoft cited NHS England rolling out to 505,000 clinicians and EY deploying E7 to 400,000 employees. But the pricing model is shifting to “per seat plus consumption”, which quietly admits that seat saturation alone will not carry growth forever.
Capex Is the Real Referee Alphabet’s aggression carries a bill. Free cash flow flipped to negative $5.86 billion, the buyback was suspended, and long-term debt jumped to $98.2 billion. Microsoft still generated $19.64 billion in Q4 free cash flow even after doubling capex. All of that spending flows to the power, cooling, and networking suppliers behind the data centers, and we profiled seven of them in a free AI infrastructure report.
I will be watching two things: whether Azure’s guided ~45% constant-currency growth holds, and whether Google Cloud’s 82% pace decelerates as comps stiffen. Copilot’s shift to consumption billing is the tell on monetization depth.
Alphabet’s Edge Over Microsoft Today On the numbers, Alphabet screens attractively today. A P/E near 17 against 82% cloud growth is a rare pairing, and shares are up 39.43% over the past year versus Microsoft’s roughly flat performance. For investors focused on fortress cash flow, dividend growth, and installed-base gravity, Microsoft trades at a 27 P/E. The key risk on both names is AI capex ROI. For now, Alphabet is the disruptor with the momentum, and Microsoft is the incumbent defending ground it never expected to defend.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Frank X. Shaw addresses the media at Microsoft on May 18, 2025, in advance of the Build conference. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) It’s the end of an era at Microsoft: Frank X. Shaw, the executive who oversaw the tech giant’s communications for nearly three decades, first at an external agency and for the last 17 years as one of its senior leaders, is leaving at the end of the year.
Shaw, 64, said he’s not retiring, although he doesn’t have another job lined up. He plans to stop working for a while, do some of the things he hasn’t had time for, and then decide what’s next.
“I have had a ringside seat at some of the biggest leadership, technology, and business transformations that have ever taken place,” Shaw said, sharing the news of his departure (under embargo) in a phone call Thursday afternoon. “I just feel incredibly fortunate.”
He said he had been discussing his potential departure for some time with Takeshi Numoto, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer, looking for the right moment.
Microsoft has not announced a successor for his role as chief communications officer. In a LinkedIn post, Shaw said Microsoft will consider internal and external candidates.
A statement from Shaw’s colleagues in corporate communications credited him for his many years shaping Microsoft’s “voice and reputation with intelligence, candor and wit. His leadership and contributions to the company are too extensive to list, as is the number of journalists who have, at one point or another, used his name in vain.”
A former Marine Corps public affairs officer, Shaw has worked with all three of Microsoft’s CEOs. He started on the agency side, at Waggener Edstrom — now known as We. Communications — when Bill Gates was still running the company.
He built his reputation defending and advocating for Microsoft through some of its hardest stretches: the antitrust years, the Windows Vista backlash, the scramble to replace Steve Ballmer as CEO, and the weekend in 2023 when OpenAI’s board fired Sam Altman.
As the company’s top communications executive, he has also told the story of Microsoft’s reinvention under CEO Satya Nadella, from the LinkedIn and Activision Blizzard deals to an AI push that has carried Azure past $100 billion in annual revenue.
Evolving with technology: Shaw has spent much of his career closely watching the tech landscape and moving Microsoft’s voice into new channels as they emerged.
“We’re always thinking about what is the art and science of communications,” Shaw told PRWeek. “How do we reach our audiences most effectively in a changing environment?” He called the arc from print to radio and TV to social media and newsletters a “constant evolution of influence.”
He turned the corporate blog into a place where the company argued its own case, writing “Microsoft by the numbers” himself in 2010 — a stat-by-stat comparison against Apple and Google that TechCrunch dubbed “fantastic passive-aggressive.”
He and his team experimented with different and risky methods of telling the company’s story, holding mass briefings under embargo and publishing documents known as the “Book of News” in advance of its major keynotes and conferences. The prospect of a reporter having to answer to “fxs” was no doubt a factor in ensuring the news (mostly) didn’t leak.
Shaw hired Steve Clayton out of a technical role at Microsoft in London, where he had been blogging about the company unofficially out of frustration with how it was perceived, and made him chief storyteller. In the middle of the AI boom, Clayton and Shaw embraced the analog undercurrents in popular culture and launched Signal, a quarterly Microsoft print magazine for business leaders.
Clayton was VP of communications strategy by the time he left in January to become chief communications officer at Cisco, making Shaw’s planned departure the second high-profile exit from Microsoft’s comms team in a year.
Adapting to AI: In recent years, Shaw made his own team a testing ground for AI, publishing what worked and what didn’t. In a 2023 post he described using Copilot in Teams to pull story ideas out of conversations with spokespeople and anticipate coverage after interviews, and asking the AI to “poke holes in a statement we’re making on a tricky topic.”
He called it his corporal, a reference to Napoleon, who was said to bring one to meetings and ask whether his generals’ war plans made sense to him. A survey of 80 people in Microsoft’s communications and marketing organization found 84% did not want to go back to working without it.
Shaw was also known to use AI as a sounding board when a story frustrated him, offering him an objective take before he called and let a particular reporter have it.
He announced his departure Friday morning in a message to Microsoft’s communications team (reminding them he’s still there for a few months yet) and his public post on LinkedIn.
“Thank you as well to all the reporters, editors, writers, influencers and analysts who have put up with me over this time, enduring my early and late night calls, my off the record ‘no comments,’ my bad story ideas and my extended commentary on headlines and positioning,” he wrote.
“You all have incredibly hard and valuable jobs,” he added, “and while I’ve not agreed with everything said about us 😊 I appreciate you anyway.”
Every payday the same stock gets another slice of my retirement capital, and three numbers from its latest earnings report make it harder to justify putting that money anywhere else.
My agentic AI dollars keep landing on the same ticker, and I have stopped pretending it will be anything else. Every payday I add a little more Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) to the account, and the case for doing it again next month keeps getting stronger.
Microsoft is selling agents into the software my employer already runs, on the cloud my employer already trusts, powered by a model lab it partly owns. That is a distribution advantage no other hyperscaler has assembled in one place, and the receipts show up in every recent earnings report.
Three Numbers That Keep Me Buying Start with adoption. Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats in fiscal Q4 2026, and the customer list reads like a directory of the global economy. NHS England is rolling Copilot out to 505,000 clinicians and staff, EY deployed E7 to 400,000 employees, KPMG is expanding across more than 276,000 professionals, and HSBC committed to 200,000 seats. Enterprise deployments to the majority of information workers grew nearly 75% quarter over quarter. Once Copilot is inside Outlook and Teams, ripping it out is a bigger project than adopting it was.
Then the backlog. Commercial remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion, up 84% year over year. Even stripping out the OpenAI relationship, RPO grew 25%, and nearly 90% of full-year Microsoft Cloud revenue came from customers outside frontier model companies. That represents contracted work already sitting on the books. For a retirement-focused portfolio, visibility like that matters.
Third, the cloud engine. Azure crossed $100 billion in annual revenue and grew 43% year over year in Q4, while management guided to approximately 45% constant-currency Azure growth for the next quarter. Beneath it sits an AI business already running at a $37 billion annualized run rate, up 123% year over year. Wrap all of that in a 46.78% operating margin, a 34.04% return on equity, and a 0.29 debt-to-equity ratio, and you have the balance sheet to fund the next leg without borrowing recklessly.
Why Not the Obvious Alternatives I looked hard at Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). Both are excellent companies. Microsoft, however, uniquely sits inside the productivity software the Fortune 500 opens every morning. Microsoft’s roughly 27% stake in OpenAI, valued near $135 billion, with IP rights extended through 2032 including post-AGI models, plus OpenAI’s contracted purchase of an incremental $250 billion of Azure services, is a structural arrangement its peers cannot replicate. When agentic AI is billed per outcome as well as per seat, the company holding the model IP, the distribution surface, and the compute contract collects at every layer.
Risk I Am Not Ignoring Capital spending is the real worry. Full-year fiscal 2026 capex hit $115.95 billion, up 79.62% year over year, and free cash flow fell 6.46% to $66.99 billion. Management has already signaled FY2027 capex will grow again. If AI demand cools, that build becomes an anchor.
What keeps me buying anyway: CFO Amy Hood said the largest slice of that spend is in short-lived CPUs and GPUs that can be slowed if demand shifts, and Microsoft expects to remain free-cash-flow positive in FY2027. Demand today still exceeds available supply.
Forward Conviction With $678 billion of contracted work, a Copilot install base compounding inside the world’s largest employers, and a model partnership locked through the next decade, Microsoft is where my agentic AI capital keeps going, and I have no plan to stop.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
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A company’s quarterly 8-K filing is typically a pro-forma document. In other words, there’s nothing in it to get investors too excited one way or another. But there was something in the Q4 2026 8-K from Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ: MSFT that adds context to the stock’s powerful post-earnings rally.
Specifically, the company said that, starting in its 2027 fiscal year, which began July 1, 2026, it’s overhauling its financial reporting structure. Since 2015, Microsoft has reported on three business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing.
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Beginning in fiscal 2027, that will drop down to two: Agents and Infra and Devices and Consumer. According to Microsoft, the new structure will better reflect how it operates and allocates resources as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a significant part of its balance sheet.
Microsoft's Azure Revenue Disclosure Is the Bigger StoryThis could be quickly dismissed as a company dressing up its financials with no substance for investors. That would be a mistake in this case. Microsoft Azure, its cloud computing business, has helped justify the company’s premium multiple for the past several years.
Under this new structure, Microsoft will provide quarterly revenue transparency across many of its specific business units, such as Azure and Microsoft 365 Cloud. Until now, Microsoft has disclosed Azure’s quarterly growth rate but not its quarterly revenue in dollars. In its Q4 2026 report, the company said that Azure crossed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time.
On a quarterly basis, it only disclosed growth in percentage terms. Starting in Q1 of its 2027 fiscal year, Microsoft will provide quarterly revenue figures for Azure and several other key businesses, giving investors a much clearer view of the dollars flowing through its cloud infrastructure.
Microsoft's New Segments Will Give Investors More AI VisibilityAzure will be part of Microsoft’s Agents and Infra segment. It will combine Microsoft’s enterprise applications and agents, including Microsoft 365 and GitHub. GitHub cloud services and Security Copilot will move from Azure into Microsoft 365 commercial cloud. The segment will also include productivity and server licensing, Industry Solutions, and Frontier and support services.
In the Devices and Consumer segment, Microsoft will report on: search and advertising, Xbox, Windows original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and devices. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions and LinkedIn Premium subscriptions will be included in the company’s search and advertising reporting.
The Microsoft Stock Rally Started Before the 8-KIn and of itself, a segment overhaul is a disclosure change, not a business change. Microsoft's total revenue, cost of revenue, and operating expense guidance are unchanged under the new structure. That distinction matters for how investors should read the stock's post-earnings move.
Shares climbed from the low $400s in August to a fresh high above $520 in early September, before settling back near $492. The rally was therefore well underway before the 8-K crossed the wire on Sept. 2. That timing raises the real question: Is the restructuring driving the stock, or is the market simply catching up to a bull case Wall Street had already embraced?
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If the restructuring were genuinely new information, it should show up in analyst behavior. It hasn't. The Microsoft analyst ratings on MarketBeat show 47 analysts have covered MSFT over the past 12 months. The consensus rating of Moderate Buy includes 42 Buy ratings and five Holds. That consensus rating hasn't moved in the last 12 months.
The current consensus price target is $564.27, good for roughly 15% upside from current levels. It stood at $558.87 a month ago and $561.20 three months ago, essentially flat around the announcement. The bulk of the bullish conviction was already in place over the summer, well before the segment news broke.
Ownership data tells the same story. Institutional investors hold 71.13% of MSFT shares, per MarketBeat's tracking of 13F filings. Over the trailing 12 months, institutions bought roughly $326.92 billion in stock against $101.3 billion in sales, a pattern of sustained accumulation rather than a reaction to a single filing.
Technical Setup Predates the Reporting ChangeThe technical setup supports the "catching up" reading. Microsoft's 50-day moving average, at $449.06, sits well above its 200-day average of $431.07, confirming a golden cross that formed as the stock recovered from its April low near $350. That bullish crossover predates the 8-K by weeks.
Price action since April has been a steady climb: shares fell to a 52-week low of $349.20 before recovering through the spring and then breaking sharply higher after Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report. That post-earnings breakout, not the September news cycle, marked the real technical shift.
Shares now sit at about $492, just below $500, a level that acted as resistance back in October 2025 and is doing so again after the early-September push to $520 failed to hold. That looks like normal digestion after a fast move rather than a trend change, with both moving averages still rising underneath the price and offering support in the $431 to $449 range.
Microsoft's AI Reporting Change Adds Clarity, Not a New Bull CaseNone of this makes the restructuring meaningless. Quarterly Azure dollar disclosure is a real transparency upgrade and will shape how the market judges Microsoft's AI monetization going forward.
But the price action, the flat analyst consensus, and the steady institutional buying all point in the same direction. That is, the market didn't reprice Microsoft because of the filing. It had been repricing Microsoft for months, and the filing came amid a rally that was already underway.
Should You Invest $1,000 in Microsoft Right Now?Before you consider Microsoft, you'll want to hear this.
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Microsoft has quietly shed ground over the past week even as its cloud backlog swells to a staggering size, and the tension between exploding capex and accelerating revenue growth makes September a pivotal moment for investors deciding whether to act…
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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) at $492.44 looks attractive heading into the rest of September, with a rate backdrop, a fortress balance sheet, and an $678 billion cloud backlog all pointing the same direction. The stock has quietly slipped 3.47% over the past week even as the AI capex debate hits full volume, setting up an actionable entry.
Microsoft is the anchor holding of the AI infrastructure trade, running Azure, Microsoft 365, LinkedIn, GitHub, and the OpenAI-linked model catalog. Azure just surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue and grew 41%, and management says demand continues to exceed available supply. That is the setup investors are pricing right now.
Why September Rewards Buyers Here The macro is doing the work. The Fed funds upper bound sits at 3.75%, down from 4.50% a year ago, and the 10-year yield at 4.95% is high enough to punish speculative names while leaving mega-cap compounders with real cash flows in favor. Microsoft carries debt/equity of 0.29 and interest coverage of 51x, meaning higher-for-longer barely touches it.
Fundamentals are accelerating into the setup. Fiscal 2026 revenue hit $331.84 billion, up 17.79%, and Q4 EPS of $4.74 beat the $4.2397 estimate by 11.81%, the fifth straight beat. Commercial RPO of $678 billion grew 84%, Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats, and management guided next-quarter Azure to roughly 45% growth in constant currency.
Why Sellers Have a Real Point Capex is exploding. Q4 capex jumped 109.63% to $35.80 billion, full-year capex reached $115.95 billion, and FY27 is guided to roughly $175 billion. Free cash flow fell 23.19% in Q4 and cash on the balance sheet dropped 30.78% year over year.
All that spending has to be powered, cooled, and networked by somebody, which is why the picks-and-shovels names behind the hyperscalers keep showing up in our free report on seven AI infrastructure stocks that aren’t chipmakers.
Valuation is not a bargain. Shares trade at 27x trailing earnings and 55x free cash flow, with Xbox revenue down 10% and More Personal Computing off 4%. If AI ROI slips, the multiple compresses fast.
Why Patience Is Tempting The stock has gone nowhere for a year, off 0.77% over 12 months, and gross margins slipped to 67% on Azure mix. A patient investor could reasonably wait for the FY27 Q1 print to confirm that $175 billion in capex is generating incremental margin, not just incremental depreciation. That is a defensible pause, especially with the put/call ratio at 0.64 showing no panic in either direction.
Data Behind the Setup MSFT trades at $492.44 against a consensus analyst target of $572.92, implying roughly 16% upside if the target holds. Targets are one data point among many. Coverage skews heavily bullish: 14 Strong Buy, 38 Buy, 3 Hold, and zero Sell ratings across 55 analysts.
Year to date, MSFT is up 2.47% while SPY has moved from 741.69 at the July earnings filing to 757.94, so Microsoft has lagged the broader market into September. The 50-day moving average of $449.05 sits well below spot, and the 52-week range of $348.54 to $549.20 shows how much room remains before prior highs.
Why $492 Looks Compelling At $492.44, Microsoft screens favorably on the setup. Here is why.
The path to appreciation is mechanical. Azure guided to 45% constant-currency growth, Copilot seat additions more than doubled quarter over quarter, and RPO recognizable within 12 months grew 37%. Each of those converts backlog into reported revenue over the next few quarters, and September trading has historically front-run those earnings reports.
The balance sheet lets Microsoft outspend every competitor without touching credit markets, which matters when the 30-year Treasury yields 5.37%. A rate-cut path that has already pulled the funds rate down 75 basis points from last September is a direct tailwind for the forward P/E of 25.
The thesis breaks if Azure decelerates below 35% or if FY27 operating margin slips more than the guided one point. Neither is visible in current guidance. The September pullback offers a notable entry point in the highest-quality AI operator trading at a reasonable multiple, before the FY27 acceleration story potentially reprices the stock.
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Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,972 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,528 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.0% of Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $564.27.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft Key Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to expand data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032—more than triple its current footprint. The scale of the investment underscores management’s confidence in long-term Azure and AI demand, although the spending commitment also increases financial risk. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its partnership with Talkdesk, allowing customers to buy contact-center AI software with existing Azure commitments through the Azure Marketplace. The arrangement could increase Azure consumption and make enterprise AI adoption easier. Talkdesk and Microsoft expand partnership Positive Sentiment: TrueFoundry’s AI Gateway is now available in the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another enterprise AI workload to Azure’s commercial ecosystem. Microsoft is also promoting enforceable privacy controls for schools using AI, which may support adoption in sensitive education markets. TrueFoundry AI Gateway availability Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and bullish commentary continue to point to Azure’s more-than-$100 billion annual revenue, rising Copilot adoption and Microsoft’s strong profitability as reasons the stock could outperform. However, the shares remain valued near 28 times earnings, leaving less room for disappointment. Microsoft bull case Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that the AI infrastructure buildup will pressure free cash flow and returns on capital. A separate analysis downgraded Microsoft, arguing that the company’s capital-expenditure rotation does not support an optimistic outlook. Microsoft capital expenditure downgrade Negative Sentiment: Higher Treasury yields are weighing on expensive technology stocks, while Dynamics 365 Activate faces questions about slowing growth and softer bookings despite its effort to win Salesforce migrations. Microsoft also disclosed a record Patch Tuesday involving 974 vulnerabilities, including two exploited Windows zero-days, highlighting ongoing security and reputational risks. Microsoft Patch Tuesday vulnerabilities Microsoft Stock Up 0.2% NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $492.44 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $453.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $418.62. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
About Microsoft (Free Report)
Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices 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 AeroVironment’s Record Backlog and Earnings Beat Fuel Recovery Case Corning Just Locked In a Massive Verizon Fiber Deal as AI Infrastructure Expands 3 Under-$20 Stocks Tied to the Future of U.S. Energy and Materials Uncle Sam’s Quantum Leap: Feds Fund a $300M Quantum Supercycle 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.
Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 10.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,954 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.4% of Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted 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 purchasing an additional 8,773 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $199,014,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $2,562,197,000 after buying an additional 537,634 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $502,077,000 after buying an additional 788,297 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to expand data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032—more than triple its current footprint. The scale of the investment underscores management’s confidence in long-term Azure and AI demand, although the spending commitment also increases financial risk. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its partnership with Talkdesk, allowing customers to buy contact-center AI software with existing Azure commitments through the Azure Marketplace. The arrangement could increase Azure consumption and make enterprise AI adoption easier. Talkdesk and Microsoft expand partnership Positive Sentiment: TrueFoundry’s AI Gateway is now available in the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another enterprise AI workload to Azure’s commercial ecosystem. Microsoft is also promoting enforceable privacy controls for schools using AI, which may support adoption in sensitive education markets. TrueFoundry AI Gateway availability Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and bullish commentary continue to point to Azure’s more-than-$100 billion annual revenue, rising Copilot adoption and Microsoft’s strong profitability as reasons the stock could outperform. However, the shares remain valued near 28 times earnings, leaving less room for disappointment. Microsoft bull case Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that the AI infrastructure buildup will pressure free cash flow and returns on capital. A separate analysis downgraded Microsoft, arguing that the company’s capital-expenditure rotation does not support an optimistic outlook. Microsoft capital expenditure downgrade Negative Sentiment: Higher Treasury yields are weighing on expensive technology stocks, while Dynamics 365 Activate faces questions about slowing growth and softer bookings despite its effort to win Salesforce migrations. Microsoft also disclosed a record Patch Tuesday involving 974 vulnerabilities, including two exploited Windows zero-days, highlighting ongoing security and reputational risks. Microsoft Patch Tuesday vulnerabilities Microsoft Stock Up 0.2% Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $492.44 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’s fifty day moving average price is $453.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $418.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.
Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 company’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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. CLSA restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $564.27.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
Microsoft Profile (Free Report)
Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.
The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.
Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft AeroVironment’s Record Backlog and Earnings Beat Fuel Recovery Case Corning Just Locked In a Massive Verizon Fiber Deal as AI Infrastructure Expands 3 Under-$20 Stocks Tied to the Future of U.S. Energy and Materials Uncle Sam’s Quantum Leap: Feds Fund a $300M Quantum Supercycle 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.
Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 207,724 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,515 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.9% of Ballentine Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $77,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Microsoft Stock Up 0.2% Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $492.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $453.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $418.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72.
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 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 business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Phillip Securities lowered Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $564.27.
Get Our Latest Report on MSFT
Insider Transactions at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the 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 90 days, insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft News Roundup Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to expand data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032—more than triple its current footprint. The scale of the investment underscores management’s confidence in long-term Azure and AI demand, although the spending commitment also increases financial risk. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its partnership with Talkdesk, allowing customers to buy contact-center AI software with existing Azure commitments through the Azure Marketplace. The arrangement could increase Azure consumption and make enterprise AI adoption easier. Talkdesk and Microsoft expand partnership Positive Sentiment: TrueFoundry’s AI Gateway is now available in the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another enterprise AI workload to Azure’s commercial ecosystem. Microsoft is also promoting enforceable privacy controls for schools using AI, which may support adoption in sensitive education markets. TrueFoundry AI Gateway availability Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and bullish commentary continue to point to Azure’s more-than-$100 billion annual revenue, rising Copilot adoption and Microsoft’s strong profitability as reasons the stock could outperform. However, the shares remain valued near 28 times earnings, leaving less room for disappointment. Microsoft bull case Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that the AI infrastructure buildup will pressure free cash flow and returns on capital. A separate analysis downgraded Microsoft, arguing that the company’s capital-expenditure rotation does not support an optimistic outlook. Microsoft capital expenditure downgrade Negative Sentiment: Higher Treasury yields are weighing on expensive technology stocks, while Dynamics 365 Activate faces questions about slowing growth and softer bookings despite its effort to win Salesforce migrations. Microsoft also disclosed a record Patch Tuesday involving 974 vulnerabilities, including two exploited Windows zero-days, highlighting ongoing security and reputational risks. Microsoft Patch Tuesday vulnerabilities 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.
Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Microsoft AeroVironment’s Record Backlog and Earnings Beat Fuel Recovery Case Corning Just Locked In a Massive Verizon Fiber Deal as AI Infrastructure Expands 3 Under-$20 Stocks Tied to the Future of U.S. Energy and Materials Uncle Sam’s Quantum Leap: Feds Fund a $300M Quantum Supercycle 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.
Camelot Portfolios LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 94.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,287 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,570 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.4% of Camelot Portfolios LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Camelot Portfolios LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,453,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Better Money Decisions LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the second quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,498 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,740,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group set a $525.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Monday, August 10th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $564.27.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Stock Up 0.2% Shares of MSFT opened at $492.44 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $453.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $418.62. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Trending Headlines about Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to expand data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032—more than triple its current footprint. The scale of the investment underscores management’s confidence in long-term Azure and AI demand, although the spending commitment also increases financial risk. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its partnership with Talkdesk, allowing customers to buy contact-center AI software with existing Azure commitments through the Azure Marketplace. The arrangement could increase Azure consumption and make enterprise AI adoption easier. Talkdesk and Microsoft expand partnership Positive Sentiment: TrueFoundry’s AI Gateway is now available in the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another enterprise AI workload to Azure’s commercial ecosystem. Microsoft is also promoting enforceable privacy controls for schools using AI, which may support adoption in sensitive education markets. TrueFoundry AI Gateway availability Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and bullish commentary continue to point to Azure’s more-than-$100 billion annual revenue, rising Copilot adoption and Microsoft’s strong profitability as reasons the stock could outperform. However, the shares remain valued near 28 times earnings, leaving less room for disappointment. Microsoft bull case Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that the AI infrastructure buildup will pressure free cash flow and returns on capital. A separate analysis downgraded Microsoft, arguing that the company’s capital-expenditure rotation does not support an optimistic outlook. Microsoft capital expenditure downgrade Negative Sentiment: Higher Treasury yields are weighing on expensive technology stocks, while Dynamics 365 Activate faces questions about slowing growth and softer bookings despite its effort to win Salesforce migrations. Microsoft also disclosed a record Patch Tuesday involving 974 vulnerabilities, including two exploited Windows zero-days, highlighting ongoing security and reputational risks. Microsoft Patch Tuesday vulnerabilities Microsoft Profile (Free Report)
Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.
The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.
Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft AeroVironment’s Record Backlog and Earnings Beat Fuel Recovery Case Corning Just Locked In a Massive Verizon Fiber Deal as AI Infrastructure Expands 3 Under-$20 Stocks Tied to the Future of U.S. Energy and Materials Uncle Sam’s Quantum Leap: Feds Fund a $300M Quantum Supercycle 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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LongView Wealth Management decreased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,648 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,201 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.7% of LongView Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. LongView Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 8,773 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its position in Microsoft by 138.8% in the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $502,077,000 after purchasing an additional 788,297 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Key Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to expand data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032—more than triple its current footprint. The scale of the investment underscores management’s confidence in long-term Azure and AI demand, although the spending commitment also increases financial risk. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its partnership with Talkdesk, allowing customers to buy contact-center AI software with existing Azure commitments through the Azure Marketplace. The arrangement could increase Azure consumption and make enterprise AI adoption easier. Talkdesk and Microsoft expand partnership Positive Sentiment: TrueFoundry’s AI Gateway is now available in the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another enterprise AI workload to Azure’s commercial ecosystem. Microsoft is also promoting enforceable privacy controls for schools using AI, which may support adoption in sensitive education markets. TrueFoundry AI Gateway availability Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and bullish commentary continue to point to Azure’s more-than-$100 billion annual revenue, rising Copilot adoption and Microsoft’s strong profitability as reasons the stock could outperform. However, the shares remain valued near 28 times earnings, leaving less room for disappointment. Microsoft bull case Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that the AI infrastructure buildup will pressure free cash flow and returns on capital. A separate analysis downgraded Microsoft, arguing that the company’s capital-expenditure rotation does not support an optimistic outlook. Microsoft capital expenditure downgrade Negative Sentiment: Higher Treasury yields are weighing on expensive technology stocks, while Dynamics 365 Activate faces questions about slowing growth and softer bookings despite its effort to win Salesforce migrations. Microsoft also disclosed a record Patch Tuesday involving 974 vulnerabilities, including two exploited Windows zero-days, highlighting ongoing security and reputational risks. Microsoft Patch Tuesday vulnerabilities Analyst Ratings Changes Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Phillip Securities cut shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays dropped their price target 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. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $564.27. Read Our Latest Research Report on MSFT
Insider Activity In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Microsoft Stock Performance Microsoft stock opened at $492.44 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.42, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $453.75 and its 200 day moving average is $418.62. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Profile (Free Report)
Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.
The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.
Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft AeroVironment’s Record Backlog and Earnings Beat Fuel Recovery Case Corning Just Locked In a Massive Verizon Fiber Deal as AI Infrastructure Expands 3 Under-$20 Stocks Tied to the Future of U.S. Energy and Materials Uncle Sam’s Quantum Leap: Feds Fund a $300M Quantum Supercycle
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Madrona Financial Services LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,389 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,523 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.1% of Madrona Financial Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Madrona Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nova R Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.0% in the second quarter. Nova R Wealth Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,300,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 207,724 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $77,485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515 shares during the period. Storen Legacy Partners LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Storen Legacy Partners LLC now owns 5,128 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,913,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,820 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,724 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,135,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Stock Up 0.2% Microsoft stock opened at $492.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 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 one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $453.75 and a 200 day moving average of $418.62.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $564.27.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft
Insider Transactions at Microsoft In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business’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 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
Key Stories Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reportedly plans to expand data-center capacity to approximately 38 gigawatts by 2032—more than triple its current footprint. The scale of the investment underscores management’s confidence in long-term Azure and AI demand, although the spending commitment also increases financial risk. Microsoft plans 38 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2032 Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its partnership with Talkdesk, allowing customers to buy contact-center AI software with existing Azure commitments through the Azure Marketplace. The arrangement could increase Azure consumption and make enterprise AI adoption easier. Talkdesk and Microsoft expand partnership Positive Sentiment: TrueFoundry’s AI Gateway is now available in the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another enterprise AI workload to Azure’s commercial ecosystem. Microsoft is also promoting enforceable privacy controls for schools using AI, which may support adoption in sensitive education markets. TrueFoundry AI Gateway availability Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and bullish commentary continue to point to Azure’s more-than-$100 billion annual revenue, rising Copilot adoption and Microsoft’s strong profitability as reasons the stock could outperform. However, the shares remain valued near 28 times earnings, leaving less room for disappointment. Microsoft bull case Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that the AI infrastructure buildup will pressure free cash flow and returns on capital. A separate analysis downgraded Microsoft, arguing that the company’s capital-expenditure rotation does not support an optimistic outlook. Microsoft capital expenditure downgrade Negative Sentiment: Higher Treasury yields are weighing on expensive technology stocks, while Dynamics 365 Activate faces questions about slowing growth and softer bookings despite its effort to win Salesforce migrations. Microsoft also disclosed a record Patch Tuesday involving 974 vulnerabilities, including two exploited Windows zero-days, highlighting ongoing security and reputational risks. Microsoft Patch Tuesday vulnerabilities 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.
Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft AeroVironment’s Record Backlog and Earnings Beat Fuel Recovery Case Corning Just Locked In a Massive Verizon Fiber Deal as AI Infrastructure Expands 3 Under-$20 Stocks Tied to the Future of U.S. Energy and Materials Uncle Sam’s Quantum Leap: Feds Fund a $300M Quantum Supercycle 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.
