Satya Nadella, CEO and Director of Microsoft (MSFT), sold company shares worth $75.3 million on September 3, leveraging the recent surge in share price. The sales were made pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted on March 7, 2025.
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MSFT stock has gained over 21% so far this year, driven by surging demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) products. Notably, MSFT’s market capitalization has recently surpassed $3.7 trillion, positioning it to join chip giant Nvidia (NVDA) in the $4 trillion club.
Insider share sales usually indicate caution about a company’s future, but can also happen for personal reasons. Hence, it is important to watch these trades for clues on the company’s growth expectations.
A Closer Look at the Insider’s Transactions
According to a Form 4 filing with the SEC on September 4, Nadella sold 149,205 MSFT shares on Wednesday. These shares were sold in multiple tranches at weighted average prices ranging between $503.0039 and $507.558 apiece.
Moreover, the filing included the acquisition of 308,870 shares of common stock at no cost and the disposition of 122,362 shares for roughly $62 million at a price of $506.69. The second disposition was marked “F” on the Form 4, which implies that shares were sold for “payment of exercise price or tax liability by delivering or withholding securities.”
Despite these significant sales, Nadella still directly owns Microsoft stock worth a massive $401.73 million, based on the closing price of $507.97 on September 4.
Is MSFT Stock a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Analysts remain highly optimistic about Microsoft’s long-term outlook. On TipRanks, MSFT stock has a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 33 Buys and one Hold rating. The average Microsoft price target of $625.98 implies 23.2% upside potential from current levels.
