Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Sells 4,810 Shares

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Takeshi Numoto also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, June 10th, Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00.
• On Monday, June 8th, Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.45, for a total transaction of $1,031,125.00.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT traded down $5.35 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $487.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 33,228,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,031,965. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $400.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $405.81. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to 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 prior year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is 20.27%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure growth and AI monetization remain the main bullish catalysts. Azure revenue reportedly exceeded $100 billion for fiscal 2026, with fourth-quarter cloud growth accelerating to 43%. Microsoft also reported fiscal-year revenue of $331.8 billion, up 18%, supporting the view that heavy AI infrastructure spending is translating into cloud demand. Microsoft Azure Fiscal 2026 Sales Exceed $100B
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism intensified. Tigress Financial raised its Microsoft price target from $680 to a Street-high $690, citing durable AI and cloud growth. Goldman Sachs also added Microsoft to its conviction list, while other analysts reiterated bullish views after the earnings beat. Tigress Raises Microsoft Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI continues to support Microsoft’s ecosystem. Microsoft disclosed $24.1 billion in revenue tied to OpenAI during the latest fiscal year, while internal developers were instructed to default to OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol in GitHub Copilot projects. The relationship could accelerate AI product adoption, although it also increases customer concentration. OpenAI May Account for 70% of Microsoft’s AI Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded AI infrastructure and security relationships, including a strategic equity warrant issued by A10 Networks and an AI-agent security collaboration involving Darktrace. These initiatives may strengthen Microsoft’s enterprise AI positioning. A10 Networks Issues Strategic Equity Warrant to Microsoft

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp grew 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 buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Evercore set a $528.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays lowered their price target on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $558.87.

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).