Microsoft stock rises on dividend hike and fresh buyback plan, new Copilot wave

Microsoft said on Monday that its board had approved a new share buyback program worth up to $60 billion and had also raised its quarterly dividend. 

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT ) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, up 10% from the prior quarter. 

Shares of the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant climbed more than 1% in Tuesday premarket trading. 

The firm had clocked strong quarterly earnings in July, although this was offset by a substantial increase in capital expenditures, as the company said it will spend more on artificial intelligence. 

Revenue from its Azure cloud business- which reflects returns from AI- had slowed during the quarter, although Microsoft said growth will pick up later in 2025.

The company, along with its big tech peers, is racing to justify the billions of dollars invested in AI over the past year. Most of Microsoft’s peers are yet to show a substantial return on their investments in AI.

Microsoft said on Monday it will hold its annual shareholders meeting on December 10.

Separately, Microsoft also announced the launch of "Wave 2" of M365 Copilot, introducing enhancements to Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, among other applications. The update features an upgraded GPT-4o engine and showcases a vision for AI-driven UI. A key focus was on agentic capabilities, aligning with recent AI developments from Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM ) and ServiceNow Inc (NYSE:NOW ).

"While too early to call a standout in the apps layer, incumbents are taking iterative steps fwd and expect MSFT to lead monetization at the application layer," Wells Fargo analysts said in a post-announcement note.

"We remain focused on tech advancements & view Copilot as next key unlock for MSFT story," they highlighted.

Analysts at Stifel voiced similarly bullish remarks, commending Microsoft's efforts to integrate GenAI more deeply throughout its product set, a move that should enable the company "to increasingly monetize on these capabilities."

Ambar Warrick contributed to this report. 

Source: Investing.com