Is a Microsoft Stock Split Coming After 23 Years?

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock sat around $518 as of this writing, within about 5% of its record close of $542 set last October.

Microsoft's board rarely let the share price go anywhere near that high before. The software giant split its stock nine times over its first 17 years as a public company, and one share bought at its March 1986 initial public offering is now 288 shares.

But the last split was a 2-for-1 split that took effect in February 2003. The shares have gone from around $25 just after that split to over $500 now.

And Microsoft hasn't announced any plan to split them again. The call is up to the board.

After 23 years without one, could a 10th split be close?

Image source: Getty Images.

Microsoft used to split well below today's price

Microsoft's board used to split the shares nearly as soon as they got pricey. The first eight splits happened between 1987 and 1999, and every time the stock closed somewhere between around $98 and $178 right before the split took effect.

The 2003 split was the odd one out, at a pre-split price of about $48. And a long flat spell followed. Microsoft shares didn't close back over $50 until October 2015, more than 12 years later. They first cleared $100 in June 2018 and crossed $178, their highest pre-split price of the 1990s, in February 2020.

Put another way, the stock has traded above every price at which Microsoft ever decided to split for most of the past six years, and it's now at almost three times the highest one. If the old pattern still held, I think the board would've split the shares again years ago.

That climb has come with a far bigger business. Showing how much the company keeps growing, Microsoft's fiscal 2026 revenue (for the year ended June 30) rose 18% to $331.8 billion -- a pickup from 15% growth in fiscal 2025 and 16% in fiscal 2024. And non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share grew 22% to $17.28.

Pricier peers

Sure, a few of Microsoft's big tech peers have split their shares lately. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) announced a 10-for-1 split in May 2024, Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) announced its own 10-for-1 split a month later, and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) announced one in October 2025.

But these stocks were much more expensive than Microsoft's is now. Nvidia closed at around $950 the day of its announcement, Netflix at about $1,090, and Broadcom at about $1,500. All three said the split was at least partly about making their shares more accessible to employees.

Microsoft's share price is a bit over half Nvidia's price the day it announced its split, and around a third of Broadcom's. Next to the companies that did split, Microsoft's stock arguably isn't all that expensive per share.

Also, fractional shares can make the price tag matter less than it used to. Fidelity, for example, lets investors buy a piece of a share of Nasdaq- and NYSE-listed stocks for as little as $1.

What would a split do to Microsoft's Dow weight?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES:^DJI) is price-weighted, so a stock's influence on the index depends on its share price, not its market value. This makes Microsoft a heavyweight. By my math, it accounts for about 6% of the index now, the third-biggest weight after Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar.

A split would lower that weight. A 2-for-1 split like Microsoft's last one would cut it to about 3%, which is still near the middle of the pack.

But a 10-for-1 split like Nvidia's might send Microsoft close to the bottom of the index. The shares would trade at about $52, above only Nike among the Dow's 30 stocks, and Microsoft's weight would drop to about 0.6%.

Verizon Communications was only about 0.5% of the Dow when it was removed from the index in June. In its announcement, S&P Dow Jones Indices, which runs the Dow, said that stocks with persistently low prices have an immaterial effect on the Dow.

Is a split coming, then? I doubt one is close. The board has let the shares trade over all of its earlier split prices for most of the last six years, and $518 is modest next to where Nvidia, Broadcom, and Netflix split. If a split does come sometime, I'd expect a small one, more like the 2-for-1 splits in Microsoft's past than a 10-for-1.

Either way, a split wouldn't change what buyers pay for the business. At around 30 times adjusted earnings, I think the stock's priced about right for a company that grew adjusted earnings per share 22% last fiscal year.

Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Broadcom, Caterpillar, Goldman Sachs Group, Microsoft, Netflix, Nike, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.