Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 1.1% – Time to Sell?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was down 1.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $396.32 and last traded at $397.75. Approximately 23,747,326 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 37,279,875 shares. The stock had previously closed at $402.29.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft deepened its AI partnership with Mistral, including a multibillion-dollar deal to support Mistral’s Europe-based AI infrastructure and expand access to Mistral models across Microsoft’s AI platform. Investors may view this as strengthening Microsoft’s enterprise AI footprint and European compliance-ready offerings. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also expanded its strategic partnership with AMD, planning to deploy AMD Helios rack-scale systems across Azure. That could improve Microsoft’s AI infrastructure supply options, reduce reliance on a single chip vendor, and support future Azure growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remained constructive, with Morgan Stanley reportedly reiterating an overweight stance and a $600 target, while CLSA upgraded Microsoft to moderate buy. Those calls reinforce the view that Microsoft’s AI and cloud franchises still have long-term upside. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor commentary ahead of earnings focused on Azure growth, AI spending, Copilot adoption, and free-cash-flow conversion. That means the next earnings report could drive a significant re-rating, but the market is still waiting for proof that heavy AI investment is translating into faster monetization. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is facing a wave of class-action lawsuit notices alleging misleading AI/Copilot claims and securities-fraud issues. Even if the litigation is early-stage, it adds legal uncertainty and can weigh on sentiment. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $502.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. President Capital upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $556.37.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $400.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $410.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after acquiring an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Microsoft

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).