Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Up 3.6% – What’s Next?

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose 3.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $384.54 and last traded at $384.37. Approximately 34,929,230 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 2% from the average daily volume of 35,466,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $370.87.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large data?center and infrastructure moves reinforce Azure capacity and long?term AI moat: Microsoft bought 3,200 acres in Wyoming for a new campus and is expanding AI infrastructure (including a $10B expansion in Japan) — both strengthen capacity for enterprise AI workloads and support future Azure revenue. Microsoft’s Data Center Push Continues
• Positive Sentiment: Third?party partners and ISVs are deploying on Microsoft platforms (e.g., Rezolve AI models in Microsoft Foundry on Azure; FPT deploying Microsoft 365 for Chugoku Electric) — these add to ecosystem stickiness and incremental revenue opportunities for cloud and M365. Rezolve AI Foundry Deal FPT Advances Chugoku Electric Power Group’s Digital Transformation
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy call?option buying suggests some investors are betting on a near?term upside or hedging into the rebound — elevated call volume can amplify moves if catalysts (earnings, capacity updates) go positive. Microsoft Sees Unusually Large Options Volume
• Neutral Sentiment: Bernstein and other analysts say recent weakness could be a buying opportunity as capex should start to drive revenue — a constructive view but hinges on timing of Azure margin recovery. Analyst: Stock May Be Bottoming Out
• Neutral Sentiment: Product moves and pricing: Microsoft is raising Surface prices amid memory shortages — could help near?term device margins but may damp demand; impact on overall results is modest versus cloud. Surface Price Increases
• Negative Sentiment: Partnership uncertainty with OpenAI is the biggest near?term risk: leaked/internal memos and coverage suggest OpenAI is courting AWS, which would erode Microsoft’s exclusive access narrative and pressure the AI growth premium. AI Civil War: Amazon Wins
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern over heavy AI capex and trimmed targets: several firms have lowered price targets (Mizuho cut its PT while keeping Outperform), and commentary points to a capex?driven drawdown that could compress near?term margins. Mizuho Trims Price Target
• Negative Sentiment: Market sentiment pieces and “buy the dip” debates: many outlets note MSFT is >20% off highs and question whether the correction is a buying opportunity or a sign of structural execution/partnership risk — this ambiguity is driving volatility ahead of late?April earnings. Should You Buy Microsoft After Its Correction?

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Evercore dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $580.87.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $390.96 and its 200 day moving average is $455.67. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted 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 acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after acquiring an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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).