Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Sells $43,388,826.50 in Stock

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $499.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The company’s fifty day moving average is $444.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $415.80.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Argus lowered their target price on Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $564.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 67,355 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,125,000 after buying an additional 1,797 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 90,507 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $33,761,000 after acquiring an additional 19,091 shares in the last quarter. MLG Wealth Management DBA Pine Grove Financial Group grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. MLG Wealth Management DBA Pine Grove Financial Group now owns 6,275 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,340,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Range Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 55.3% in the 2nd quarter. Range Advisory LLC now owns 23,157 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,638,000 after acquiring an additional 8,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 54,067 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,168,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).