Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Down 2.4% – Here’s What Happened
by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat GemMicrosoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report)’s share price fell 2.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $457.17 and last traded at $459.38. 28,032,229 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 20% from the average session volume of 23,318,965 shares. The stock had previously closed at $470.67.
Key Stories Impacting Microsoft
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and other analysts say MSFT looks undervalued given strong corporate demand for its AI offerings — a buy/valuation upside argument that supports a longer‑term bull case. Microsoft’s stock may be an AI winner — but it’s not acting like one
- Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs and other firms maintain bullish views (Buy/initiations and CIO‑survey takeaways) pointing to Azure/AI revenue tailwinds — a supportive analyst backdrop for valuation recovery. Goldman Sachs Software Stock Picks 2026
- Positive Sentiment: Product/market expansion: Microsoft is pushing agentic AI and Copilot Checkout to embed AI into retail workflows (low‑conflict approach that aims to expand Copilot adoption across enterprise customers). This supports TAM expansion if adoption follows. Microsoft Wants to Power Retail Without Competing With It
- Neutral Sentiment: Community‑First data‑center plan: Microsoft pledged to pay higher local utility costs and mitigate water/ tax impacts to win approvals — reduces political/regulatory risk but may increase operating/capital costs; net impact depends on scale and execution. Microsoft launches data center initiative to limit power costs, water use
- Negative Sentiment: Rising AI vendor spend: reports that Microsoft will spend roughly $500M/year on Anthropic models have fueled concerns that MSFT is increasing external AI costs — some commentators call this a costly pivot that could pressure margins if it continues. Microsoft Spending on Anthropic Approaches $500 Million a Year
- Negative Sentiment: Market rotation & technical selling: MSFT has slid as the AI trade cools, Alphabet’s rally and broader tech re‑rating/interest‑rate uncertainty have increased selling pressure and pushed MSFT toward multi‑month lows. Microsoft Stock Hits Six-Month Low
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $500.00 target price (down from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $630.37.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT
Microsoft Stock Down 2.4%
The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.67, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $486.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $503.47.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.89%.
Insider Activity
In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% during 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 worth $30,840,432,000 after buying an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $14,905,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. 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).