Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
by Jessica Moore · The Cerbat GemMicrosoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 943,699 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 31% compared to the typical daily volume of 719,159 call options.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft
A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $525.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 18th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $556.95.
View Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
More Microsoft News
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat and AI/cloud momentum — MSFT beat EPS and revenue expectations, Azure/cloud growth accelerated ~40% and management cited an AI revenue run‑rate near $37B, supporting the long‑term growth story. Microsoft Q3 press release and transcript
- Positive Sentiment: Analysts largely remain bullish — multiple firms reaffirmed Buy/Outperform ratings and some raised targets (Wells Fargo, Piper Sandler and others), reflecting confidence in Azure and AI monetization. Microsoft Wins Buy Rating on Strong AI-Driven Cloud Momentum
- Positive Sentiment: Product traction: Copilot & LinkedIn monetization — management said paid Copilot users and LinkedIn AI hiring products are scaling, which supports higher recurring AI revenue potential. Microsoft says it has over 20m paid Copilot users
- Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street is split — some firms trimmed targets on valuation/spending concerns while others lifted targets on stronger AI monetization; expect continued divergent analyst commentary and price‑target revisions. Wall Street Splits on Microsoft After Earnings
- Neutral Sentiment: Options activity shows speculative bullish interest — unusually large call volume suggests some traders are betting on a rebound even as the stock trades lower (this can amplify intraday moves).
- Negative Sentiment: Heavy capex & margin/cash‑flow concerns — MSFT raised 2026 capex guidance toward ~\$190B and noted a meaningful jump in infrastructure spending; investors sold into the beat, fearing pressure on free cash flow and near‑term returns. Microsoft Falls 5% Despite Q3 Beat: Why $190 Billion in AI Spending Has Investors Worried
- Negative Sentiment: Near‑term target trims and one‑time charges — several firms trimmed targets and Microsoft disclosed charges (e.g., voluntary retirement program) and other near‑term costs, adding to headline risk. Cantor Fitzgerald Cuts Microsoft Price Target
Microsoft Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $16.68 during trading on Thursday, reaching $407.78. 70,680,930 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,809,622. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $395.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $448.65.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.04 by $0.23. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.76%.
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).