Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Up 1.1% – Time to Buy?

Posted by Brian Himes on Jul 28th, 2026

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) shot up 1.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $400.32 and last traded at $393.35. Approximately 32,180,517 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 36,994,984 shares. The stock had previously closed at $389.10.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: New AI cybersecurity products: Microsoft unveiled its first internally developed cybersecurity model, MAI-Cyber-1-Flash, along with Project Perception, an agentic platform designed to identify and respond to AI-driven attacks. The products could strengthen Microsoft’s position in the expanding enterprise security market and support demand for its broader AI ecosystem. Microsoft launches AI cybersecurity model article
Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain bullish: Citizens reaffirmed a Market Outperform rating with a $550 price target, while Piper Sandler maintained an Overweight rating and a $540 target. Guggenheim also reiterated its Buy rating with a $586 target, signaling substantial perceived upside after Microsoft’s recent pullback. Microsoft analyst rating article
Positive Sentiment: Azure demand is central to the earnings setup: Analysts expect continued cloud and AI demand, with investors looking for evidence that Azure growth and cash generation can justify Microsoft’s planned roughly $190 billion in capital spending. Options markets imply a large post-earnings move, increasing the potential for a positive reaction if results and guidance exceed expectations. Microsoft capital spending and Azure article
Neutral Sentiment: Market-wide volatility: Stocks are rebounding ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision and a heavy slate of Big Tech earnings. Lower rates could support technology valuations, but the upcoming events may produce sharp swings in MSFT.
Negative Sentiment: AI spending and return-on-investment concerns: Investors are increasingly focused on whether Microsoft’s escalating capital expenditures will generate sufficient Azure revenue and margins. Alphabet’s higher spending outlook has heightened scrutiny of Microsoft, Meta and Amazon, while short sellers are positioning ahead of earnings. Hyperscaler capital expenditure scrutiny article
Negative Sentiment: Litigation over Copilot and Azure disclosures: Several law firms publicized securities class actions alleging Microsoft misled investors about Copilot’s capabilities and Azure-related growth. The lawsuits are an overhang, though their immediate financial impact remains uncertain. Microsoft securities class action article

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. New Street Research cut their target price on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $570.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $554.73.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Microsoft

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $397.52 and a 200 day moving average of $406.99. 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 market cap of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in 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 worth $30,840,432,000 after purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Microsoft

(Get 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).