Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Price Down 1.9% – What’s Next?

Posted by Brian Himes on Jul 22nd, 2026

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) shares dropped 1.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $386.96 and last traded at $390.34. 27,672,869 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 26% from the average session volume of 37,255,367 shares. The stock had previously closed at $397.75.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Truist reaffirmed its Buy rating on Microsoft and set a $575 price target, while other analysts also reiterated that the stock looks undervalued after its recent weakness. Analyst price target update
Positive Sentiment: Bernstein and Morgan Stanley both highlighted Microsoft’s AI and cloud strengths, saying Azure growth, AI margins, and long-term “relationships” with enterprise customers could support a rebound into earnings. Bernstein outlook Morgan Stanley commentary
Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its partnership with Mistral AI and committed support for the DOE’s Genesis Mission, reinforcing its push to build out AI infrastructure and enterprise AI offerings. Reuters Mistral deal
Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is helping drive record hyperscaler data-center demand, including a nuclear-power AI initiative with Nvidia and Oklo, suggest continued heavy AI infrastructure spending by major customers and partners. Oklo AI initiative
Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street is focused on next week’s earnings for clues on Azure growth, AI spending, and the payoff from Microsoft’s broad AI investments.
Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is facing multiple securities class-action lawsuits tied to alleged misleading AI and Copilot disclosures, which is adding headline risk and weighing on sentiment. Class action lawsuit alert
Negative Sentiment: Some articles point to concerns that Copilot is losing free features and that Microsoft’s AI execution has not yet fully justified its spending, keeping pressure on the stock despite bullish long-term views. Copilot concerns

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. President Capital increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp began coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $556.37.

Get Our Latest Report on MSFT

Microsoft Stock Down 1.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $399.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $409.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Company Profile

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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).