Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 1.4% Following Analyst Downgrade

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) dropped 1.4% during mid-day trading on Friday after Dbs Bank lowered their price target on the stock from $678.00 to $573.00. The stock traded as low as $414.00 and last traded at $415.00. Approximately 33,110,163 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 35,562,043 shares. The stock had previously closed at $420.77.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Microsoft to $502.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $562.69.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary remain constructive after Microsoft’s strong quarterly results, with several reports saying the stock still looks attractive on valuation and that Azure/AI growth could keep driving upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a partnership with CAISI and AISI to advance AI model testing standards, reinforcing its position as a key enterprise AI leader and potentially supporting longer-term trust in its AI ecosystem. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports highlighted growing adoption across Microsoft’s AI partner network, suggesting its Copilot and cloud ecosystem continue to gain traction. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Some articles pointed to Microsoft as one of the stronger long-term AI and cloud franchises, with bullish analysts still raising price targets despite capex concerns. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft reported strong fiscal Q3 results last week, including earnings and revenue beats, which still anchor the bullish case even as the stock trades unevenly in the near term.
• Negative Sentiment: The biggest drag today is a headline that hedge fund TCI/Chris Hohn slashed its Microsoft stake by about $8 billion, a move tied to concerns that AI competition could pressure Microsoft’s long-term edge. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also worried about Microsoft’s heavy AI spending and possible margin pressure, with multiple articles saying capex intensity and AI economics remain a key overhang on the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional coverage on Microsoft potentially delaying or weakening its clean-energy goals adds to concerns that the AI buildout is creating operational tradeoffs. Article Title

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacific Sun Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% in the first quarter. Pacific Sun Financial Corp now owns 5,487 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,031,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,614,000. Mathes Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 13,699 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,071,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. HORAN Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 102.2% in the 1st quarter. HORAN Wealth LLC now owns 87,978 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $34,378,000 after purchasing an additional 44,470 shares during the period. Finally, Andra AP fonden increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 83.7% in the first quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 1,033,052 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $382,405,000 after acquiring an additional 470,798 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $396.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $445.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Microsoft Company Profile

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).