Microsoft shares jumped 3.66% to close at $516.17 on September 25, their highest finish of 2026, after the company unveiled an expanded version of its Copilot AI assistant. The move made Microsoft the top performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and extended a rebound that has lifted the stock 32% since late July's earnings report.
Microsoft shares closed up 3.66% at $516.17 on Friday, marking the stock's highest close of 2026. The gain made Microsoft the best performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The index rose 0.93% on the session.
A revamped Copilot drives the rally
Microsoft unveiled an expanded version of Copilot on Friday, introducing a unified "Home" interface that merges meetings, Word, Excel and PowerPoint with new code-generation tools into a single workspace. The update also adds an always-on "autopilot" agent designed to handle routine tasks in the background, according to Crypto Briefing.
D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria told MarketWatch that Microsoft is "helping their customers manage the frontier models in a more efficient and effective way" than rivals, calling it an orchestration layer the company has wisely moved into.
From a 17% slide to a 32% rebound
Through July 28, Microsoft shares were down about 17% year-to-date as investors questioned whether AI spending would pay off. Then the company posted its latest quarterly earnings in late July, and the stock has since climbed 32%.
Trading volume on Friday topped 37.9 million shares, about 15% above its three-month average of 32.9 million shares, according to Motley Fool data.
Wall Street lifts its price target
Stifel had already upgraded Microsoft to a Buy rating earlier in September, raising its price target to $575 from $530, a move Crypto Briefing said implies roughly 11% additional upside from Friday's close.
The rally comes as Microsoft keeps spending over $115 billion on capital expenditures in 2026, mostly on data centers and AI infrastructure. The stock trades at 21 times cash from operations, slightly below its five-year average of 25, according to Motley Fool.
Sources: MarketWatch, The Motley Fool, Crypto Briefing
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