Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 3.2% After Insider Selling

Key Points

• Microsoft shares fell 3.2% after CEO Judson Althoff disclosed the sale of 15,500 shares worth about $7.15 million. The stock traded as low as $424.25 amid heavier-than-normal volume.
• Despite the pullback, Wall Street remains broadly bullish on Microsoft, with 40 analysts rating it a Buy and a consensus target price of $561.20. Recent research firms have continued to raise price targets, reflecting confidence in the company’s long-term outlook.
• New AI initiatives remain a major growth driver, including in-house models like MAI-Code-1 and MAI-Thinking-1, the Microsoft Scout agent, and deeper Nvidia partnerships. The company is also highlighting quantum computing progress, reinforcing its multi-year innovation story.

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) dropped 3.2% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $424.25 and last traded at $427.34. Approximately 38,006,662 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 6% from the average daily volume of 35,939,059 shares. The stock had previously closed at $441.31.

Specifically, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value 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 trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Melius Research set a $430.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, February 9th. President Capital increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America began coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $500.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled several new in-house AI models, including MAI-Code-1 and MAI-Thinking-1, signaling a push toward AI self-sufficiency and lower developer costs.
• Positive Sentiment: The company introduced Microsoft Scout, an always-on personal agent for Microsoft 365, expanding its agentic AI and Copilot monetization opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft deepened its partnership with Nvidia on AI PCs and cloud AI infrastructure, reinforcing its role in the next wave of Windows and Azure demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also highlighted progress in quantum computing with its Majorana 2 chip, adding a long-term growth narrative.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts and commentators said the market may be undervaluing Microsoft’s AI opportunity and Azure growth potential.
• Neutral Sentiment: Build 2026 generated broad excitement, but some reports said Microsoft teased a Copilot “super app” without fully unveiling it, which may have tempered expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft CEO Judson Althoff disclosed a sale of 15,500 shares, which can weigh on sentiment even though the transaction was relatively modest.
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage pointed to investor concern over Microsoft’s high AI spending, valuation pressure, and policy-related uncertainty, helping explain the weakness despite the product news.

Microsoft Stock Down 3.2%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $403.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $433.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Institutional Trading of Microsoft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock worth $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant's stock worth $58,624,690,000 after buying an additional 980,439 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).

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