Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 473,877 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,673 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.3% of Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $176,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% in the third quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Better Money Decisions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the second quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,498 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity In other 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 transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $564.27. View Our Latest Report on MSFT

Microsoft Price Performance Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $493.95 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $449.56 and a 200-day moving average of $417.29. 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 $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.50, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft disclosed that Azure is generating more than a $100 billion annualized revenue run rate and reorganized reporting around AI infrastructure and agents. Greater Azure transparency and accelerating demand could support revenue visibility and investor confidence. Microsoft Breaks Out Azure Sales at $100 Billion Annualized Pace, Reorganizes AI Segments Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is positioned at the center of a projected multitrillion-dollar AI infrastructure buildout, with Azure demand, large customer commitments, and its partnership with NVIDIA potentially creating a long-term growth opportunity. Nvidia, Microsoft at Center of $7 Trillion AI Boom Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with recent buy or overweight ratings and a reported median price target of $540. However, the stock’s sharp advance and proximity to its prior high make continued gains dependent on cash-flow conversion and the payoff from heavy AI investment. Microsoft Stock Opinions on Recent Earnings and Business Reorganization Negative Sentiment: Two additional lawsuits from news organizations over the use of news content in AI training increase legal uncertainty around Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship and could create financial, reputational, or operational costs. Microsoft’s OpenAI Partnership Draws Fresh Legal Fire Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s effort to measure the “useful yield” produced by each AI infrastructure dollar and watt highlights investor concerns about whether massive data-center spending will generate adequate returns. The scrutiny could pressure sentiment toward Microsoft and key supplier NVIDIA. Microsoft’s Useful Yield Test Raises the Stakes for NVIDIA’s AI Economics Negative Sentiment: Recent reports also cite insider selling, including sales by Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, while separate reports of Outlook and Microsoft 365 service disruptions add modest execution and reliability concerns. Microsoft’s OpenAI Partnership Draws Fresh Legal Fire 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.

Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Tesla’s Robotaxi Launch Wasn’t the Moment Investors Expected Despite Post-Earnings Drop, Wall Street Analysts Eye New Highs for Broadcom Stock Morgan Stanley Eyes Good Things Ahead for Meta After $18 Billion Legal Settlement Q3 Earnings Could Be the Catalyst the Market Has Been Waiting For

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

Azure and Google Cloud are posting jaw-dropping growth numbers just as Treasury yields hit levels that have historically crushed high-multiple tech stocks. Whether Microsoft's fortress balance sheet or Alphabet's cheaper valuation wins this rate-scare showdown could determine which mega-cap compounds…

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

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) both posted blowout AI-fueled quarters just as the 10-year Treasury yield pushed to 4.78%, its 98.8th percentile reading over the past year. With rate-hike anxiety squeezing growth multiples, these two mega-caps stand out because their balance sheets absorb the shock other hyperscalers have to borrow through. Huge cash reserves make borrowing-cost worries less prominent for both.

Azure Crosses $100 Billion, Google Cloud Accelerates to 82% Microsoft’s fiscal Q4 delivered revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.8%, with Intelligent Cloud jumping 32% and Azure growing 43%. Satya Nadella called out that “Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time, and Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats.” Commercial RPO ballooned to $678 billion, up 84%, a booking backlog that dwarfs peers.

Alphabet’s Q2 was arguably louder. Revenue hit $119.80 billion, up 24.2%, marking its 12th straight quarter of double-digit growth. Google Cloud accelerated to 82% growth at $24.77 billion, a stunning jump. Sundar Pichai noted “nearly 90% of the Fortune 100 using” Gemini Enterprise, and Search still cranked out $63.27 billion, up 17%.

Business Driver Microsoft Alphabet Cloud growth Azure +43% Google Cloud +82% FY CapEx $115.95B $91.45B (FY25) Main AI wedge Copilot + OpenAI Full-stack Gemini + TPUs Cash Fortress vs. Debt-Funded Sprint Microsoft generated $182.94 billion in operating cash flow for FY26 and still returned over $43 billion to shareholders. Amy Hood emphasized flexibility: “You have a big book of business that’s flexible… It does allow us to have a lot more flexibility to manage through those.” Free cash flow was pinched to $19.64 billion, but the war chest keeps rate sensitivity muted.

Alphabet leaned harder on financing. Q2 free cash flow turned negative $5.86 billion, long-term debt jumped from $46.5 billion to $98.2 billion, and buybacks were suspended. Alphabet raised roughly $70 billion in combined equity and debt. Rising yields matter more here, though Google’s P/E of 17 gives it valuation cushion versus Microsoft’s P/E of 28.

What Decides the Next Leg I will be watching whether Microsoft can convert that $678 billion RPO into revenue without margin slippage as capacity finally catches demand. For Alphabet, the key metric to watch is when free cash flow turns positive again and whether Google Cloud’s 82% pace holds. If yields keep climbing from 4.78%, the debt-funded builder will feel it first (the power, cooling, and networking names taking the other side of that capex are in our free AI infrastructure report).

Why I Lean Toward Alphabet on Valuation Right Now Personally, I find Alphabet more interesting at these levels. A forward P/E of 23 for a business compounding 24% with an 82% cloud growth rate looks mispriced against Microsoft’s premium multiple. Microsoft is the safer AI compounder, and if you want the cleanest balance sheet and a 0.71% yield with buybacks intact, it fits defensive portfolios well. For a growth investor willing to absorb capex volatility, Alphabet’s ad moat plus Gemini traction stands out through this rate scare.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 14.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 172,761 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,395 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.9% of BTC Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. BTC Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $64,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew 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 increased its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The 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 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 105,835 shares of company stock valued at $52,468,575 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Barclays decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $564.27. Read Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft

Microsoft Stock Performance MSFT stock opened at $499.70 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $447.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $416.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

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

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure business reportedly crossed a significant revenue milestone, while its large backlog points to continued demand for cloud and AI services. This is strengthening the long-term bull case and fueling speculation that the stock could approach $600. Microsoft Stock Is Building a Trillion-Dollar AI Opportunity Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia are described as major beneficiaries of a potential $7 trillion AI infrastructure buildout. Rising data-center construction and demand for computing capacity could support sustained growth across Azure, software, and AI products. Nvidia, Microsoft at Center of $7 Trillion AI Boom Positive Sentiment: Investment commentary continues to favor Microsoft as a long-term holding because of its diversified software ecosystem, recurring revenue, cloud position, and favorable earnings outlook. Its latest reported quarter also showed revenue growth and earnings well above expectations. Why Microsoft Is a Top Stock for the Long-Term Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s partnerships and investments in Gulf data-center infrastructure highlight its efforts to expand global AI capacity. Separately, company representatives said AI could create new employment opportunities rather than only eliminate jobs, supporting broader adoption narratives. Microsoft and Schneider Electric Bet Big on the Gulf Neutral Sentiment: Analysts are focused on a key cash-flow line item, likely reflecting the impact of elevated AI-related capital expenditures. Strong investment may expand future growth but could constrain free cash flow and delay a breakout to a new high. Microsoft Is Close to a New All-Time High Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, could face a pricing challenge if advanced hardware pushes the console toward $1,000. A high price could limit adoption and pressure the gaming business, although Microsoft is considering affordability measures. Microsoft Has a $1,000 Problem With Its Next Xbox Negative Sentiment: Recent Outlook and Exchange Online outages, alongside a separate ChatGPT Work disruption, raise concerns about reliability for Microsoft’s productivity and cloud services. The incidents have not materially undermined reported results but remain a reputational and retention risk. Microsoft’s Outlook and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work Both Broke the Same Day Microsoft Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft 3 Under-the-Radar Defense Stocks With Record Backlogs This Korea ETF Has Soared, But the Rally May Not Be Over Why Guidewire’s Post-Earnings Plunge May Not Last Ride-Share Reckoning: Tesla Drives Into Uber’s Lane

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.

Canoe Financial LP lessened its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 9.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 465,891 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 47,440 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.2% of Canoe Financial LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Canoe Financial LP’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $173,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,773 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 8.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,041,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance Shares of MSFT stock opened at $499.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $447.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $416.63. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue 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. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year. Microsoft Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. CLSA reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $564.27.

Read Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft

Insider Transactions at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 105,835 shares of company stock valued at $52,468,575 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure business reportedly crossed a significant revenue milestone, while its large backlog points to continued demand for cloud and AI services. This is strengthening the long-term bull case and fueling speculation that the stock could approach $600. Microsoft Stock Is Building a Trillion-Dollar AI Opportunity Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia are described as major beneficiaries of a potential $7 trillion AI infrastructure buildout. Rising data-center construction and demand for computing capacity could support sustained growth across Azure, software, and AI products. Nvidia, Microsoft at Center of $7 Trillion AI Boom Positive Sentiment: Investment commentary continues to favor Microsoft as a long-term holding because of its diversified software ecosystem, recurring revenue, cloud position, and favorable earnings outlook. Its latest reported quarter also showed revenue growth and earnings well above expectations. Why Microsoft Is a Top Stock for the Long-Term Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s partnerships and investments in Gulf data-center infrastructure highlight its efforts to expand global AI capacity. Separately, company representatives said AI could create new employment opportunities rather than only eliminate jobs, supporting broader adoption narratives. Microsoft and Schneider Electric Bet Big on the Gulf Neutral Sentiment: Analysts are focused on a key cash-flow line item, likely reflecting the impact of elevated AI-related capital expenditures. Strong investment may expand future growth but could constrain free cash flow and delay a breakout to a new high. Microsoft Is Close to a New All-Time High Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, could face a pricing challenge if advanced hardware pushes the console toward $1,000. A high price could limit adoption and pressure the gaming business, although Microsoft is considering affordability measures. Microsoft Has a $1,000 Problem With Its Next Xbox Negative Sentiment: Recent Outlook and Exchange Online outages, alongside a separate ChatGPT Work disruption, raise concerns about reliability for Microsoft’s productivity and cloud services. The incidents have not materially undermined reported results but remain a reputational and retention risk. Microsoft’s Outlook and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work Both Broke the Same Day Microsoft Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft 3 Under-the-Radar Defense Stocks With Record Backlogs This Korea ETF Has Soared, But the Rally May Not Be Over Why Guidewire’s Post-Earnings Plunge May Not Last Ride-Share Reckoning: Tesla Drives Into Uber’s Lane

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.

PFG Advisors trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 5.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 68,913 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,171 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.3% of PFG Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. PFG Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during 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. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th 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 during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, 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 transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 105,835 shares of company stock valued at $52,468,575. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $499.70 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The company has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $447.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $416.63. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm 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%.The business’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 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $564.27.

Read Our Latest Research Report on MSFT

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

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure business reportedly crossed a significant revenue milestone, while its large backlog points to continued demand for cloud and AI services. This is strengthening the long-term bull case and fueling speculation that the stock could approach $600. Microsoft Stock Is Building a Trillion-Dollar AI Opportunity Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia are described as major beneficiaries of a potential $7 trillion AI infrastructure buildout. Rising data-center construction and demand for computing capacity could support sustained growth across Azure, software, and AI products. Nvidia, Microsoft at Center of $7 Trillion AI Boom Positive Sentiment: Investment commentary continues to favor Microsoft as a long-term holding because of its diversified software ecosystem, recurring revenue, cloud position, and favorable earnings outlook. Its latest reported quarter also showed revenue growth and earnings well above expectations. Why Microsoft Is a Top Stock for the Long-Term Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s partnerships and investments in Gulf data-center infrastructure highlight its efforts to expand global AI capacity. Separately, company representatives said AI could create new employment opportunities rather than only eliminate jobs, supporting broader adoption narratives. Microsoft and Schneider Electric Bet Big on the Gulf Neutral Sentiment: Analysts are focused on a key cash-flow line item, likely reflecting the impact of elevated AI-related capital expenditures. Strong investment may expand future growth but could constrain free cash flow and delay a breakout to a new high. Microsoft Is Close to a New All-Time High Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, could face a pricing challenge if advanced hardware pushes the console toward $1,000. A high price could limit adoption and pressure the gaming business, although Microsoft is considering affordability measures. Microsoft Has a $1,000 Problem With Its Next Xbox Negative Sentiment: Recent Outlook and Exchange Online outages, alongside a separate ChatGPT Work disruption, raise concerns about reliability for Microsoft’s productivity and cloud services. The incidents have not materially undermined reported results but remain a reputational and retention risk. Microsoft’s Outlook and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work Both Broke the Same Day Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft 3 Under-the-Radar Defense Stocks With Record Backlogs This Korea ETF Has Soared, But the Rally May Not Be Over Why Guidewire’s Post-Earnings Plunge May Not Last Ride-Share Reckoning: Tesla Drives Into Uber’s Lane Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report).

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

Microsoft is developing Project Helix as its next-generation Xbox Summary

A $1,000 launch price could sharply reduce console adoption

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, Financials) wants its next Xbox to do more than the current one. The problem is what gamers will pay for it.

Project Helix is Microsoft's next-generation console, designed to play both Xbox and PC games. That wider ambition could make it more powerful and flexible.

It could also make it expensive.

Ampere Analysis estimates that if the next Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 6 launch around $1,000, their combined sales during the first five years could be as much as 38% below the current generation.

That is a serious problem for Microsoft.

Console hardware is only the beginning of the relationship. Microsoft also makes money when players buy games, subscribe to Game Pass and spend inside the Xbox ecosystem.

Fewer consoles can mean fewer customers for all of those businesses.

One option is giving buyers a cheaper starting point and letting them add features later. But ideas such as modular storage, removable disc drives or upgradeable computing remain possibilities rather than confirmed Project Helix features.

For Microsoft, the challenge is becoming simple. Project Helix needs to feel like a major upgrade. It just cannot be priced like one.

Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.

Click for the complete disclosure

Most retirees assume a forced IRA withdrawal means selling shares whether they want to or not, but a little-known IRS rule lets you satisfy the requirement without liquidating a single position, even in a falling market.

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

If you own a traditional IRA and you’ve reached the age when the government forces withdrawals, here’s a rule almost nobody uses: your required minimum distribution (RMD) doesn’t have to leave as cash. You can order the custodian to move the shares themselves, at fair market value, into a taxable brokerage account. The IRS calls this an in-kind distribution. It satisfies the RMD with the identical tax bill a cash withdrawal would generate, and you never have to sell into a weak market.

How an In-Kind Transfer Satisfies Your RMD An RMD is the minimum you’re forced to pull from a pretax retirement account each year once you hit the trigger age. The dollar amount is set by dividing your account balance on the last business day of the prior year by an IRS life-expectancy factor. If stocks have dropped since then, a cash RMD forces you to sell into the decline and permanently exit those shares.

Move the shares in kind and your investment position is unchanged. Your custodian transfers a specified number of shares of, say, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) or Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) from the IRA to your taxable account. The value on the transfer date counts as the distribution. Dividends keep flowing, and any recovery accrues to you.

Rule Chapter and Verse RMDs are governed by Internal Revenue Code §401(a)(9) and §408(a)(6), with mechanics detailed in IRS Publication 590-B. The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 raised the starting age to 73, rising to 75 in 2033. Distributions must be taken by December 31 each year, with your first RMD allowed as late as April 1 of the year after you turn 73. Publication 590-B explicitly permits property distributions valued at fair market value on the date of transfer. A larger pretax balance means a larger forced withdrawal, and the bill lands hardest in year one (we mapped how to shrink that first-year tax bomb years before RMDs begin in a free guide here).

A Down-Market Illustration Assume your 2026 RMD is $40,000, calculated off your Dec. 31, 2025 IRA balance, and by September the market is well off its highs. You direct your custodian to move Apple shares priced at $319.97 and Microsoft shares priced at $499.70 (both as of Sept. 4, 2026), totaling roughly $40,000 in fair market value, into your brokerage account. You owe ordinary income tax on that $40,000, identical to what a cash RMD would trigger. The shares remain yours, still collecting Apple’s $0.27 quarterly dividend and Microsoft’s $0.91 quarterly dividend.

Basis and Holding Period Reset A couple of tax rules drive how this plays out. First, the value you transfer is treated as ordinary income and taxed at your marginal rate, so don’t expect any tax savings here. This move is really about timing the market, not cutting your tax bill. Second, the shares you receive get a new cost basis equal to the fair market value on the day of the transfer, and your holding period resets from that date. If you hold them for more than a year, any gains will qualify for the lower long-term capital gains rate, which makes a meaningful difference for most retirees.

When to Skip It If you need the RMD cash to live on, selling is unavoidable. If you’re charitably inclined, a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) sent straight from the IRA to a qualifying nonprofit is usually better: the income never touches your adjusted gross income and therefore avoids pushing you into a higher Medicare bracket. In 2026, Medicare IRMAA surcharges begin at modified AGI above $109,000 for single filers and $218,000 for joint filers. QCDs are available starting at age 70½.

Traps That Cost People Money Withholding is the first trap you need to watch for, as the IRS normally takes taxes out of IRA distributions, but when you transfer shares in kind, there is no cash to withhold. You have two choices. Either waive withholding and cover the tax bill yourself through estimated payments, or leave some cash inside the IRA so the custodian can withhold against it.

Valuation is the second issue. The custodian uses the fair market value on the execution date, so you cannot hit your RMD number to the exact dollar in advance. Most people end up transferring a little more than needed, or they add a small cash top-up to cover the difference.

Miss the December 31 deadline entirely, and SECURE 2.0 hits you with a 25% excise tax on the shortfall, though that drops to 10% if you correct it within the statutory correction window. The smart move is to start early in the year, confirm your custodian supports in-kind transfers, decide on your withholding approach, and choose the holding with the strongest recovery potential to move.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) has recently been on Zacks.com's list of the most searched stocks. Therefore, you might want to consider some of the key factors that could influence the stock's performance in the near future.

Shares of this software maker have returned -0.1% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -0.1% change. The Zacks Computer - Software industry, to which Microsoft belongs, has gained 2.2% over this period. Now the key question is: Where could the stock be headed in the near term?

While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.

Earnings Estimate RevisionsRather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.

We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

Microsoft is expected to post earnings of $4.67 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +13.1%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed -0%.

For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $19.59 points to a change of +9.1% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed +0.1%.

For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $23.18 indicates a change of +18.3% from what Microsoft is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed -0.2%.

Having a strong externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, offers a more conclusive picture of a stock's price direction in the near term, since it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. Due to the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, Microsoft is rated Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:

12 Month EPS

Projected Revenue GrowthWhile earnings growth is arguably the most superior indicator of a company's financial health, nothing happens as such if a business isn't able to grow its revenues. After all, it's nearly impossible for a company to increase its earnings for an extended period without increasing its revenues. So, it's important to know a company's potential revenue growth.

For Microsoft, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $90.53 billion indicates a year-over-year change of +16.6%. For the current and next fiscal years, $388.84 billion and $460.08 billion estimates indicate +17.2% and +18.3% changes, respectively.

Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryMicrosoft reported revenues of $90.01 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +17.7%. EPS of $4.74 for the same period compares with $3.65 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $87.44 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +2.93%. The EPS surprise was +12.59%.

The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.

ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.

While comparing the current values of a company's valuation multiples, such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), with its own historical values helps determine whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of the reasonability of the stock's price.

The Zacks Value Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which pays close attention to both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics to grade stocks from A to F (an A is better than a B; a B is better than a C; and so on), is pretty helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.

Microsoft is graded D on this front, indicating that it is trading at a premium to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.

ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Microsoft. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

Here at Zacks, we offer our members many different opportunities to take full advantage of the stock market, as well as how to invest in ways that lead to long-term success.

One of our most popular services, Zacks Premium offers daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank; full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List; Equity Research reports; and Premium stock screens like the Earnings ESP filter. All are useful tools to find what stocks to buy, what to sell, and what are today's hottest industries.

It also includes the Focus List, a long-term portfolio of top stocks that have all the elements to beat the market.

Breaking Down the Zacks Focus ListIf you could, wouldn't you jump at the chance for access to a curated list of stocks to kickstart your investing journey?

That's what the Zacks Focus List offers. It's a portfolio of 50 stocks that serve as a starting point for long-term investors to build their individual portfolios. The stocks included in the list are set to outperform the market over the next 12 months.

One thing that makes the Focus List even more advantageous is that each pick comes with a full Zacks Analyst Report. This helps explain why each stock was selected and why we believe it's a good pick for the long-term.

The portfolio's past performance only solidifies why investors should consider it as a starting point. For 2020, the Focus List gained 13.85% on an annualized basis compared to the S&P 500's return of 9.38%. Cumulatively, the portfolio has returned 2,519.23% while the S&P returned 854.95%. Returns are for the period of February 1, 1996 to March 31, 2021.

Focus List MethodologyWhen stocks are picked for the Focus List, it reflects our enduring reliance on the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Earnings estimates, or expectations of growth and profitability, come from brokerage analysts who track publicly traded companies; these analysts work together with company management to analyze every aspect that may affect future earnings, like interest rates, the economy, and sector and industry optimism.

Earnings estimate revisions are very important, since investors also need to take into consideration what a company will earn in the future.

The stocks that receive positive changes to earnings estimates are more likely to receive even more upward changes in the future. Take this example: if an analyst raised their estimates last month, they'll probably do so again this month, and other analysts will follow.

Harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions is where the Zacks Rank comes in. The Zacks Rank, which is a unique, proprietary stock-rating model, employs earnings estimate revisions to make it easier to build a winning portfolio.

Four primary factors make up the Zacks Rank: Agreement, Magnitude, Upside, and Surprise. Each is given a raw score that's recalculated every night and compiled into the Rank, and with this data, stocks are then classified into five groups, ranging from "Strong Buy" to "Strong Sell."

The Focus List is comprised of stocks hand-picked from a long list of #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) ranked companies, meaning that each new addition boasts a bullish earnings consensus among analysts.

Because stock prices react to revisions, buying stocks with rising earnings estimates can be very profitable. Focus List stocks offer investors a great opportunity to get into companies whose future earnings estimates will be raised, potentially leading to price momentum.

Focus List Spotlight: Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) Redmond, WA-based Microsoft Corporation is one of the largest broad-based technology providers in the world. The company holds the leading position in the PC software market with its Windows operating system. 

Since being added to the Focus List on February 1, 2016 at $55.09 per share, shares of MSFT have increased 807.06% to $499.7. The stock is currently a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank.

13 analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2027. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.32 to $19.59. MSFT boasts an average earnings surprise of 9.3%.

Moreover, analysts are expecting MSFT's earnings to grow 9.1% for the current fiscal year.

Reveal Winning StocksUnlock all of our powerful research, tools and analysis, including the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research Reports, Zacks Earnings ESP Filter, Premium Screener and more, as part of Zacks Premium. You'll quickly identify which stocks to buy, hold and sell, and target today's hottest industries, to help improve the performance of your portfolio. Gain full access now >>

Two more news organizations are suing OpenAI and Microsoft over the supposed use of their journalism to train AI.

A lawsuit filed by The Seattle Times and Newsday argued that with the advent of AI, the journalism industry could become “broken beyond repair.” The lawsuit described generative AI as “a snake eating its own tail” that could “destroy the very organizations” that produce the content it’s trained on.

“AI products like ChatGPT and CoPilot are touted as producers of content, but in fact they are rapacious consumers, devouring human-authored content and delivering back to the world copies and derivative imitations of that same original content they consumed to achieve their commercial objectives,” the lawsuit said.

Back in 2023, The New York Times sued OpenAI and its partner/investor Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement; other publications have followed suit as the case continued. The Seattle Times’ lawsuit is particularly notable because Microsoft and OpenAI have funded some of the organization’s journalism projects and fellowships.

A Microsoft spokesperson told GeekWire that the company is “surprised by the lawsuit” but is “always happy to sit down and explore solutions to this type of dispute.”

Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,519 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,471 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.4% of Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,273,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $564.27.

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

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin. Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming Insider Buying and Selling In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 108,335 shares of company stock worth $53,499,700 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.0% Shares of MSFT opened at $499.70 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $444.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $415.80. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

About Microsoft (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

Recommended Stories Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Revolution Medicines Got Its Breakthrough—What Moves It Next? Retail Earnings Just Exposed a Bigger Divide in the U.S. Consumer Economy FB Financial’s Southern Expansion and Buybacks Drive Analyst Optimism AST SpaceMobile Stock Soared 12%—This Was the Catalyst 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.

DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 4,365.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,689 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,584 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.3% of DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings 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. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin. Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming Microsoft Stock Performance Shares of MSFT opened at $499.70 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $444.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $415.80. 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 $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. CLSA reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Microsoft from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $564.27.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Microsoft

Insider Buying and Selling 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 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 $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 108,335 shares of company stock valued at $53,499,700 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Microsoft (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

Further Reading Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Revolution Medicines Got Its Breakthrough—What Moves It Next? Retail Earnings Just Exposed a Bigger Divide in the U.S. Consumer Economy FB Financial’s Southern Expansion and Buybacks Drive Analyst Optimism AST SpaceMobile Stock Soared 12%—This Was the Catalyst

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.

Amazon (AMZN -0.15%), Microsoft (MSFT -2.04%), and Alphabet (GOOG -1.05%) (GOOGL -1.11%) are generally recognized as the big three hyperscalers. These three also operate the leading cloud computing platforms, which are a huge part of the AI build-out. Most companies don't have computing capacity available to run AI workloads, so they rent computing power from these three. There isn't enough capacity available, so this trio is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data center capital expenditures this year and is likely to do the same in 2027. That will lead to monster growth for these companies, but are they all solid buys right now?

Of the three, there are two that I think are smart buys, while one is the odd stock out. Which one is the one to avoid? Let's find out.

Image source: Getty Images.

One stands out with a faster growth rate All three of these companies are fairly similar: They have a primary business but also a booming cloud computing segment. Amazon has its commerce business, Microsoft has a business software product lineup, and Alphabet has the Google Search empire. All three of these businesses generate significant cash flows, allowing them to invest in cloud computing, which requires heavy upfront investment but then enables massive cash generation in the future.

When it comes to growth rates, Alphabet is by far the fastest-growing. In Q2, Google Cloud's revenue increased 82% year over year. It's also doing it profitably, as its operating margin rose from 21% to 36% over the year. It's hard to pick apart those results, and Google Cloud is by far the fastest-growing. But it's also accelerating. Its growth rate in Q1 was 63%. With more computing capacity coming online, don't be surprised to see this growth rate cross triple digits over the next few quarters.

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

92/100

Today's Change

(

-1.11

%) $

-3.80

Current Price

$

338.46

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are closer in their growth rates, but there is one glaring defect in Microsoft's results that makes me question its strength. AWS' growth rate in Q2 was 37% versus Azure's 43%. However, in Q1, AWS' growth rate was 28% versus Azure's 40%. Why is that a big deal? Well, AWS' growth rate is rapidly accelerating (similar to Google Cloud's), while Azure's is staying fairly stagnant.

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

93/100

Today's Change

(

-2.04

%) $

-10.42

Current Price

$

499.70

This could be a one-off quarterly issue, and if Microsoft reports rapidly accelerating Azure revenue next quarter, it could solve the problem. But if Azure continues its 40% or so growth rate while its peers are experiencing accelerating growth, it could be a red flag that Microsoft isn't capturing as much market opportunity as possible in one of the biggest technological arms races we've ever seen.

As a result, I prefer the other two to Microsoft right now, but is there also a valuation component to be aware of?

Valuing these three isn't straightforward Each of these companies has invested billions into up-and-coming AI companies, which skews their earnings-per-share (EPS) metric, which affects their price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios. As a result, valuing the stocks based on operating income makes the most sense.

AMZN Operating PE Ratio data by YCharts

From this standpoint, Microsoft is by far the cheapest. This could be the market adjusting for the discrepancy seen in Azure versus the other cloud computing providers. If it is, then the market may have priced the stock correctly to account for AWS' and Google Cloud's rapid acceleration.

However, I'm still picking Amazon and Alphabet over Microsoft despite a cheaper price tag due to their growth acceleration. I think grabbing market share is a better long-term setup than a lower price now, and that makes them top AI stocks to buy and hold over the next few years as the AI arms race ramps up.

The Seattle Times and Newsday sued OpenAI and Microsoft (MSFT.O) on Friday, alleging in federal court that the tech companies ​copied the newspapers' journalism without permission to train their AI systems.

The suit ‌in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges that OpenAI and Microsoft scraped the newspapers' websites, including content behind paywalls, and incorporated articles into datasets used ​to train and operate products including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Bing's AI features.

The ​newspapers, based in Seattle and Long Island, New York, said the ⁠companies' AI products can reproduce passages from their reporting, closely paraphrase articles and ​provide users with answers that reduce the need to visit their websites or buy ​subscriptions.

"We feel strongly that we must defend our content - which we spend millions of dollars a year to produce - from being used without our consent or compensation," Seattle Times President and CEO ​Alan Fisco wrote to employees, according to the newspaper.

A spokesperson for San Francisco-based ​OpenAI said its models are trained on publicly available data and grounded in fair use, without ‌commenting ⁠specifically on the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Microsoft, based near Seattle in Washington state, said in an email: "While we’re surprised by the lawsuit, we appreciate the importance of local journalism and we’re always happy to sit down and explore solutions to this type ​of dispute."

The Seattle Times ​and Newsday are ⁠seeking an order requiring the destruction of copies of their works as well as training datasets or AI models incorporating them.

The ​lawsuit echoes a case filed by the New York Times (NYT.N) in ​2023, which ⁠accused OpenAI and Microsoft (MSFT.O) of using millions of newspaper articles without permission to train OpenAI's popular chatbot. The case is ongoing, and is one of dozens brought by copyright ⁠holders ​against tech companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and ​Meta for what they say is misuse of their material to train AI systems.

(This story has been refiled to say 'a,' not 'an' spokesperson, in the fourth bullet point.)

Microsoft (MSFT -2.04%) and Apple (AAPL -2.51%) generate hundreds of billions in revenue.

*Stock prices used were the afternoon prices of Sept. 2, 2026. The video was published on Sept. 4, 2026.

Parkev Tatevosian, CFA has positions in Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Parkev Tatevosian is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through his link, he will earn some extra money that supports his channel. His opinions remain his own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.

Microsoft's (MSFT -1.94%) run under CEO Satya Nadella has been one of the great turnaround stories in the history of tech. While the technology company still had a great many strengths when Nadella took the reins from Steve Ballmer in 2014, the business was facing some significant challenges at the time of the leadership change. Microsoft had largely missed out on benefiting from the mobile revolution, Windows and Office were seemingly stagnating, and the company's growth bets weren't panning out.

Thankfully for Microsoft shareholders, Nadella's assumption of the CEO role marked a major turning point for the business. Since he took over as the company's top executive in February 2014, the company's stock has delivered a dividend-adjusted total return of roughly 1,570% -- working out to a compound annual growth rate of 29.7%. Is it possible the company could continue delivering that rate of return over the next 12 years?

Image source: Getty Images.

Microsoft is a great company, but investors should manage their expectations Microsoft's successes during Nadella's tenure are undeniably impressive. Under his leadership, the company's business became heavily cloud-focused -- and the evolution of its Azure cloud infrastructure service helped transform the business and position it to capitalize on artificial intelligence (AI) trends. Growth for other subscription-based products also helped boost sales and earnings.

On the other hand, it's probably not reasonable to expect the stock to replicate that incredible run over the next 12 years. When Nadella took over, the company had a market capitalization of roughly $300 billion -- and its share price had been depressed by stagnant business performance, failed growth bets, and rising competitive pressures from rivals including Alphabet and Apple.

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

93/100

Today's Change

(

-1.94

%) $

-9.90

Current Price

$

500.22

Today, Microsoft has a market cap of roughly $3.69 trillion and ranks as the world's fourth-largest company. While it's not impossible that the stock could continue to deliver nearly 30% average annual returns over a significant period of time, typically, the larger a company gets, the more difficult it becomes for it to deliver rapid growth.

Nadella took over at a time when Microsoft was struggling and its stock had fallen out of favor with investors. The turnaround that he helped to engineer and execute reinvigorated the business's growth engines, addressed competitive weaknesses, and positioned the company to drive and benefit from emerging tech trends. However, the incredible average annualized stock gains under his leadership are at least partially a result of the company having been in a relatively weak position when he became CEO.

Microsoft is looking much stronger today. Windows and Office continue to be solid performance drivers, the cloud business is growing at an impressive clip, and the company has a multitude of ways to profit from the AI trend. With those dynamics in mind, there's a good chance that the stock can continue to be a market-beating investment -- but expecting it to keep delivering annualized returns of nearly 30% in perpetuity isn't reasonable.

Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 229,490 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,773 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.2% of Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $85,604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $50,664,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 108,335 shares of company stock valued at $53,499,700. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week: Positive Sentiment: Microsoft will begin reporting quarterly Azure revenue in fiscal 2027 and reorganize its financial reporting from three segments into two AI-focused categories. Azure generated approximately $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, providing investors with more visibility into cloud growth and AI demand. Microsoft to reveal Azure cloud sales in financial reporting shift Positive Sentiment: Citi reaffirmed a Buy rating and $600 price target, while other analysts cited Microsoft’s large AI backlog, Azure’s more than $100 billion annual revenue and the potential for improved AI economics. The company’s latest earnings also showed strong momentum, with revenue up 17.7% year over year and a substantial earnings beat. Analyst reaffirms Buy on Microsoft Positive Sentiment: Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, potentially strengthening Microsoft’s AI ecosystem and demand for Azure infrastructure. Microsoft is also securing long-term power capacity for data centers and expanding Microsoft 365 Copilot integrations. OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra Neutral Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth about $43.4 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature of the sale limits its significance, although it reduced his holdings by 15.09% and adds to recent insider selling. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft will impose monthly limits on Xbox cloud-gaming hours for Game Pass subscribers beginning in November as service costs rise. The change may improve economics but could hurt consumer sentiment and gaming engagement. Microsoft to impose time limits on Xbox cloud gaming Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to weigh Microsoft’s roughly $116 billion AI infrastructure spending plan, rising data-center costs and pressure on cloud margins. The key risk is whether the large backlog converts into profitable cash flow rather than simply future revenue. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Barclays cut their price objective 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. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price target 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $562.49.

Read Our Latest Report on MSFT

Microsoft Price Performance Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $510.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $441.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $415.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.40, 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 posted its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

About Microsoft (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft The Path to $230 Billion: Broadcom Outlines the Next Phase of Its AI Growth Story NVIDIA’s Hugging Face Deal Raises a Bigger Question About Its AI Moat Now Dropping the Dough: Yum! Brands Strategically Trims the Fat These 3 Stock Charts Just Flashed the Dreaded Death Cross Pattern Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report).

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.

Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,184 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,821 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.7% of Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.7% MSFT stock opened at $510.12 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $441.99 and its 200 day moving average is $415.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current year. Microsoft Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

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

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft will begin reporting quarterly Azure revenue in fiscal 2027 and reorganize its financial reporting from three segments into two AI-focused categories. Azure generated approximately $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, providing investors with more visibility into cloud growth and AI demand. Microsoft to reveal Azure cloud sales in financial reporting shift Positive Sentiment: Citi reaffirmed a Buy rating and $600 price target, while other analysts cited Microsoft’s large AI backlog, Azure’s more than $100 billion annual revenue and the potential for improved AI economics. The company’s latest earnings also showed strong momentum, with revenue up 17.7% year over year and a substantial earnings beat. Analyst reaffirms Buy on Microsoft Positive Sentiment: Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, potentially strengthening Microsoft’s AI ecosystem and demand for Azure infrastructure. Microsoft is also securing long-term power capacity for data centers and expanding Microsoft 365 Copilot integrations. OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra Neutral Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth about $43.4 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature of the sale limits its significance, although it reduced his holdings by 15.09% and adds to recent insider selling. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft will impose monthly limits on Xbox cloud-gaming hours for Game Pass subscribers beginning in November as service costs rise. The change may improve economics but could hurt consumer sentiment and gaming engagement. Microsoft to impose time limits on Xbox cloud gaming Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to weigh Microsoft’s roughly $116 billion AI infrastructure spending plan, rising data-center costs and pressure on cloud margins. The key risk is whether the large backlog converts into profitable cash flow rather than simply future revenue. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, CLSA reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $562.49.

Read Our Latest Research Report on Microsoft

Insider Buying and Selling In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,335 shares of company stock valued at $53,499,700. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft The Path to $230 Billion: Broadcom Outlines the Next Phase of Its AI Growth Story NVIDIA’s Hugging Face Deal Raises a Bigger Question About Its AI Moat Now Dropping the Dough: Yum! Brands Strategically Trims the Fat These 3 Stock Charts Just Flashed the Dreaded Death Cross Pattern Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report).

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

Microsoft stock is trading slightly higher this year despite the company's massive capex. Wall Street believes those investments will pay off.

BayBridge Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 28.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,318 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,167 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.0% of BayBridge Capital Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. BayBridge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft will begin reporting quarterly Azure revenue in fiscal 2027 and reorganize its financial reporting from three segments into two AI-focused categories. Azure generated approximately $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, providing investors with more visibility into cloud growth and AI demand. Microsoft to reveal Azure cloud sales in financial reporting shift Positive Sentiment: Citi reaffirmed a Buy rating and $600 price target, while other analysts cited Microsoft’s large AI backlog, Azure’s more than $100 billion annual revenue and the potential for improved AI economics. The company’s latest earnings also showed strong momentum, with revenue up 17.7% year over year and a substantial earnings beat. Analyst reaffirms Buy on Microsoft Positive Sentiment: Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, potentially strengthening Microsoft’s AI ecosystem and demand for Azure infrastructure. Microsoft is also securing long-term power capacity for data centers and expanding Microsoft 365 Copilot integrations. OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra Neutral Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth about $43.4 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature of the sale limits its significance, although it reduced his holdings by 15.09% and adds to recent insider selling. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft will impose monthly limits on Xbox cloud-gaming hours for Game Pass subscribers beginning in November as service costs rise. The change may improve economics but could hurt consumer sentiment and gaming engagement. Microsoft to impose time limits on Xbox cloud gaming Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to weigh Microsoft’s roughly $116 billion AI infrastructure spending plan, rising data-center costs and pressure on cloud margins. The key risk is whether the large backlog converts into profitable cash flow rather than simply future revenue. Analyst Ratings Changes MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 27th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 20th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $562.49. Check Out Our Latest Analysis on MSFT

Microsoft Stock Performance Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $510.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $441.99 and its 200 day moving average is $415.21.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 108,335 shares of company stock worth $53,499,700 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than Microsoft The Path to $230 Billion: Broadcom Outlines the Next Phase of Its AI Growth Story NVIDIA’s Hugging Face Deal Raises a Bigger Question About Its AI Moat Now Dropping the Dough: Yum! Brands Strategically Trims the Fat These 3 Stock Charts Just Flashed the Dreaded Death Cross Pattern Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report).

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.

Corecam Pte. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,600 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,270 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 5.5% of Corecam Pte. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Corecam Pte. Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Dbs Bank decreased their target price on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target 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. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $562.49.

Check Out Our Latest Report on MSFT Insider Buying and Selling 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 value of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 108,335 shares of company stock worth $53,499,700. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $510.12 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $441.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $415.21. 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 company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

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

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft will begin reporting quarterly Azure revenue in fiscal 2027 and reorganize its financial reporting from three segments into two AI-focused categories. Azure generated approximately $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, providing investors with more visibility into cloud growth and AI demand. Microsoft to reveal Azure cloud sales in financial reporting shift Positive Sentiment: Citi reaffirmed a Buy rating and $600 price target, while other analysts cited Microsoft’s large AI backlog, Azure’s more than $100 billion annual revenue and the potential for improved AI economics. The company’s latest earnings also showed strong momentum, with revenue up 17.7% year over year and a substantial earnings beat. Analyst reaffirms Buy on Microsoft Positive Sentiment: Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched GPT-6 Astra, potentially strengthening Microsoft’s AI ecosystem and demand for Azure infrastructure. Microsoft is also securing long-term power capacity for data centers and expanding Microsoft 365 Copilot integrations. OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra Neutral Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth about $43.4 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The scheduled nature of the sale limits its significance, although it reduced his holdings by 15.09% and adds to recent insider selling. Negative Sentiment: Microsoft will impose monthly limits on Xbox cloud-gaming hours for Game Pass subscribers beginning in November as service costs rise. The change may improve economics but could hurt consumer sentiment and gaming engagement. Microsoft to impose time limits on Xbox cloud gaming Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to weigh Microsoft’s roughly $116 billion AI infrastructure spending plan, rising data-center costs and pressure on cloud margins. The key risk is whether the large backlog converts into profitable cash flow rather than simply future revenue. Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft The Path to $230 Billion: Broadcom Outlines the Next Phase of Its AI Growth Story NVIDIA’s Hugging Face Deal Raises a Bigger Question About Its AI Moat Now Dropping the Dough: Yum! Brands Strategically Trims the Fat These 3 Stock Charts Just Flashed the Dreaded Death Cross Pattern

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

Microsoft's disclosure places Alphabet third by revenue while exposing the value of closing a relatively narrow gap. Summary

Google Cloud is smaller, but each market-share point now carries visible value.

Alphabet GOOGL, Google's advertising, cloud and artificial-intelligence machine, faced a blunt new benchmark at $338.31 per share. Microsoft MSFT disclosed $29.4 billion in quarterly Azure revenue, while Google Cloud produced $24.8 billion. Azure is ahead by $4.6 billion. The cloud race finally has a clean scoreboard.

Alphabet is not answering with small checks. Its second-quarter filing showed $119.8 billion in total revenue, with Google Services contributing $94.5 billion. Capital expenditures exploded to $44.9 billion as Alphabet raced to build the data centers, networks and computing muscle behind its AI and cloud push.

Here is the pressure point. Azure's lead equals roughly 18.5% of Google Cloud's revenue, while Google Cloud already generates 20.7% of Alphabet's total sales. Meanwhile, the stock's $338.31 price stands 34.27% above its $251.97 GF Value™ estimate. That is a rich premium. Alphabet now needs its enormous infrastructure bet to close the cloud gap, win profitable market share and prove investors are not paying tomorrow's price too early.

Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.

Click for the complete disclosure

Microsoft is switching up its reporting structure for the AI era. As of the next fiscal quarter, its current three reporting segments—Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing—will be replaced with two brand new ones: Devices and Consumer, and Agents and Infra, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Devices and Consumer is a pretty self-explanatory segment, including revenue from Microsoft’s customer-facing products like Xbox and Windows devices, as well as from LinkedIn and search advertising.

But Agents and Infra is a more obtuse title. It’s a bit of a catch-all for revenue from Microsoft’s other products, including its AI models, cloud infrastructure, and Microsoft 365 (including its Copilot features). The change means Microsoft will be disclosing quarterly revenue for its cloud-computing platform Azure for the first time.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the change to the company’s reporting structure is meant to reflect how artificial intelligence is shaking up the way Microsoft operates.

Subscribe to the Daily newsletter.Fast Company's trending stories delivered to you every day

“There’s no question Al represents a profound shift in both technology and business,” he said during a recent presentation. “To reflect this and provide increased transparency to investors, we are updating our financial reporting to mirror how the business is operating, how we allocate resources, and where we are headed.”

“This integrated architecture across Agents and Infra is how we think about engaging with customers and driving their outcomes, building products, and monetization,” Nadella continued. “It’s no longer about building or selling one app or service, but about connecting the entire trajectory of a ‘job to be done.’”

Microsoft’s history of wacky wordsAgents and Infra sounds more like a video game subtitle than a department at one of the world’s biggest tech companies. But it’s far from the first time Microsoft has gotten . . . ahem, creative with its corporate vocabulary.

Explore TopicsmicrosoftnewsSatya Nadella

Shares of Microsoft (MSFT +2.68%) rose on Thursday after the technology titan announced that it would provide investors with more information about its fast-growing cloud computing business.

Image source: Getty Images.

Quantifying AI's impact on Azure Artificial intelligence (AI) runs on the cloud. The AI race, in turn, has been a boon for Microsoft's Azure cloud infrastructure platform.

Microsoft is a key investor and partner of OpenAI and Anthropic. These and other leading AI model developers rely on Azure for a significant portion of their cloud computing needs.

At the same time, tens of thousands of customers use Azure to access AI models, applications, and development tools.

Yet while investors have long appreciated Azure's rapid pace of expansion, Microsoft has disclosed little beyond its growth rate. Until now.

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

93/100

Today's Change

(

2.68

%) $

13.30

Current Price

$

510.12

Microsoft has finally begun to report Azure's quarterly revenue figures. And investors apparently like what they see.

Azure's revenue surged 42% year over year to $29.4 billion in its most recent quarter. That places it second only to cloud industry leader Amazon Web Services, whose revenue grew 37% to $42.2 billion in the quarter ended June 30.

Azure's growth is accelerating Microsoft expects Azure's revenue to grow by 44% to 45% in constant currency in the current quarter, driven by soaring AI usage.

Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Microsoft MSFT , the enterprise-software and cloud-computing giant, traded at $512.72 Wednesday as it finally pulled back the curtain on Azure. The cloud engine produced $29.4 billion last quarter and $101.9 billion during the fiscal year ended June 30. Investors no longer have to guess how much revenue Microsoft's most important growth machine actually generates.

The company is also replacing three reporting segments with two sharper operations: Agents and Infra, plus Devices and Consumer. Its fiscal fourth-quarter results showed Microsoft Cloud revenue of $59.3 billion, Azure growth of 43% and commercial remaining performance obligations of $678 billion. The message is blunt: artificial intelligence and the infrastructure powering it now sit at the heart of Microsoft's financial story.

Azure generated approximately 49.6% of quarterly Microsoft Cloud revenue, giving investors a cleaner test of whether massive AI spending is winning market share or simply riding a larger cloud market. The stock's $512.72 price also stood 11.82% below its GF Value™ estimate of $581.42, pointing to a potential valuation gap. Greater transparency changes none of Azure's economics—but it makes execution easier to reward and failure much harder to hide.