Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 3.8% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) dropped 3.8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $377.32 and last traded at $378.91. Approximately 41,265,920 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 15% from the average daily volume of 35,856,289 shares. The stock had previously closed at $393.83.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to expand AI-related partnerships, including Dstillery’s launch of predictive AI audiences in Microsoft Advertising’s Media Marketplace, which supports monetization of its ad platform and broader AI ecosystem. Dstillery Brings Predictive AI Audiences to Microsoft Media Marketplace as Launch Partner
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentators argued Microsoft remains a strong long-term AI compounder, with one note saying AI adoption is still a major growth driver and another saying the stock could be attractive on weakness. Microsoft Is Winning the AI Adoption Game. Now It Has to Pay Off
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and bullish articles continue to point to Microsoft’s long-term earnings power, including reports that its AI revenue is still rising and that the company remains a top growth stock over time. Microsoft: Growth Outlook Still Robust Without OpenAI Exclusivity
• Neutral Sentiment: Some media coverage framed Microsoft as a long-term quality stock and compared it favorably to other AI names, but these pieces were mostly opinion-driven rather than company-specific catalysts. Microsoft in 2026: Still the Smartest Way to Play the AI Boom?
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports said Microsoft walked away from a potential $3 billion Oracle cloud infrastructure deal, highlighting ongoing capacity and security/compliance issues in its cloud buildout. Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure talks with Oracle collapse
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also facing a shareholder class-action lawsuit tied to alleged misstatements about Azure growth, Copilot adoption, and AI infrastructure spending, which adds legal risk and keeps pressure on the stock. Securities Fraud Class Action Notice
• Negative Sentiment: Several analyst articles turned bearish, warning that Microsoft may be “cheap for a reason” and recommending investors sell or dump the shares after the recent weakness. Why This Analyst Is Telling Investors to Dump Microsoft Stock (MSFT)

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $561.20.

Microsoft Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.11. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $412.01 and its 200-day moving average is $427.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders 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 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $30,840,432,000 after buying an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $14,905,904,000 after buying an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. 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).