Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) EVP Amy Hood Sells 7,305 Shares of Stock

Posted by Francis Steltz on Oct 15th, 2026

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total value of $3,984,293.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 555,396 shares in the company, valued at $302,924,086.32. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Amy Hood also recently made the following trade(s):

On Monday, September 14th, Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of Microsoft stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $533.69 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $504.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $438.68.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 300 custom AI accelerator, designed for multi-gigawatt deployment across Azure data centers. Management says it can deliver 40% more tokens per megawatt than a GPU-based system, potentially lowering inference costs and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD hardware. What Could Microsoft Gain From Its Maia 300 AI Chip Rollout?
Positive Sentiment: Investor optimism remains focused on Azure growth, Microsoft’s AI backlog, and more than $130 billion in reported data-center leases. The scale of commitments supports long-term demand for Azure and Copilot, although it also raises capital-spending risks. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases
Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects the upcoming fiscal first-quarter report to show improving differentiation in software. Earnings are scheduled for October 28. Microsoft Price Target Raised by Barclays
Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure chief reportedly seeks at least 20% cost cuts in an effort to offset soaring AI data-center expenses. The move could improve efficiency and margins, but it also highlights pressure from the company’s aggressive investment cycle. Microsoft Weighs 20% Cost Cuts in Azure
Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is introducing new AI-enabled Surface devices and an Xbox Nano Controller, supporting its broader push to put generative AI into consumer hardware. These products are strategically relevant but are unlikely to materially affect near-term results.
Negative Sentiment: Hot inflation data pushed bond yields higher and triggered a broad selloff in AI-related shares, increasing concern that expensive AI infrastructure projects may face higher financing costs and tougher valuation scrutiny.
Negative Sentiment: Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft to “hold,” while Erste Group made a minor reduction to its FY2028 earnings forecast. These actions add to near-term caution following the stock’s strong run.
Negative Sentiment: EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares worth approximately $4.0 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Because the sale was scheduled in advance and represents only 1.3% of her holdings, it is a limited bearish signal.
Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft issued security updates addressing more than 1,400 vulnerabilities could renew concerns about cybersecurity exposure, though patching the flaws is ultimately protective.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Birchbrook Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 7,936 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,070,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. West Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 371.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Wealth Group LLC now owns 48,445 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $24,847,000 after purchasing an additional 38,174 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 39,382 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,199,000 after purchasing an additional 11,199 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. now owns 25,576 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,118,000 after purchasing an additional 4,443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortune 45 LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the third quarter. Fortune 45 LLC now owns 2,609 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $581.24.

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About Microsoft

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Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.