CIBC Asset Management Inc Cuts Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

CIBC Asset Management Inc reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,099,912 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,827 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.1% of CIBC Asset Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,087,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $398.46 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $453.76 and its 200 day moving average is $489.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.92, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.08. 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, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Daiwa Securities Group cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $590.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.95.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft locked in a long‑duration revenue arrangement with OpenAI (20% share extended through 2032), creating a sizeable, recurring cash‑flow channel tied to the AI leader — a clear structural upside for MSFT’s AI monetization thesis. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying: director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares (~$2M), a behavioral vote of confidence that can help stabilize sentiment after recent weakness. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street / institutional interest: Morgan Stanley and other firms highlight MSFT as under‑owned and many hedge funds/institutions have added to positions or maintained positive ratings — supports potential inflows if risk appetite returns. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: ESG/operational: Microsoft commits to continue matching its electricity needs with renewable purchases as it scales data‑centers, lowering regulatory/ESG risk for long‑term investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Growth vs. capex trade: Microsoft says it’s on pace to invest ~$50B in AI across the Global South by 2030 — a large, long‑term market expansion but one that requires heavy upfront capex and multi‑year execution. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Partnerships/enterprise traction: CrowdStrike’s Falcon is now available on Microsoft Marketplace, which increases enterprise stickiness and could drive incremental marketplace revenue over time (limited immediate impact). Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry moves (indirect effect): NVIDIA and Meta deepen their AI alliance and huge capex plans — this underscores relentless demand for compute but also signals competitors (Meta) spending to build infrastructure that could reduce future cloud demand. Implication for MSFT is mixed. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term selling and rotation: several pieces point to investor dumping and downgrades after a strong earnings beat — concerns that MSFT’s massive AI infrastructure spending will pressure near‑term margins have triggered profit‑taking and volatility. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Product/security jitters and sector pressure: reports of an Office/Copilot bug and research on “recommendation poisoning,” together with tech‑sector downgrades, amplify short‑term adoption and regulatory risk narratives. Read More. Read More.

About Microsoft

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).