Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Lifted by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,887,869 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 71,091 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 6.7% of Czech National Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $977,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho lowered Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Guggenheim set a $675.00 target price on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.03.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $485.92 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $499.78 and a 200-day moving average of $503.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and coverage point to improving AI economics — reports say Azure AI margins are positive and revenue is likely to beat estimates, supporting near-term earnings upside and giving investors confidence in cloud monetization. Azure AI margins article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft pledged $17.5 billion of investment in AI and cloud infrastructure in India — a large, long-term growth initiative that should expand Azure adoption and enterprise spending in a major emerging market. India investment article
• Positive Sentiment: New enterprise partnerships (Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro) and a Cognizant-led push to scale Microsoft 365/GitHub Copilot & agentic AI deployments could accelerate commercial adoption and drive higher software and Azure consumption. Partnerships article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined the U.S. “Genesis Mission” AI initiative alongside top AI firms — positioning MSFT to capture government and scientific AI spend and reinforcing strategic leadership in national AI programs. Genesis Mission article
• Positive Sentiment: Partner-channel and device news helped sentiment — LG’s reported backpedal on making Copilot mandatory drove a small positive knee-jerk move, easing concerns about forced integrations and signaling partner flexibility. LG Copilot article
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary frames MSFT as a durable AI/dividend play — pieces highlighting dividend/long-term strength keep buy-and-hold narratives alive but are unlikely to move price materially on their own. MarketBeat dividend article
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer-product updates (Office 2024 upgrade) and legacy product refreshes support steady software sales, but are lower-impact versus cloud/AI developments. Office 2024 article
• Negative Sentiment: Jim Cramer warned that Microsoft “requires mass spending” to keep Azure competitive — a direct headline that reinforces investor worries about rising capex and margin pressure as MSFT scales data centers and AI infrastructure. Cramer spending article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI/tech jitters and commentary about “ballooning” capex have pressured the stock in recent weeks; that narrative could cap multiple expansion until evidence of durable margin recovery is clear. CapEx concerns article

Microsoft Company Profile

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).